Only the Very Best
by BloodyHolly935
Summary: A little pre-Breaking Bad. Saul takes on a law student as an assistant and she becomes something like his protege. Saul (Jimmy) / OFC. A lot of light-hearted little snapshots to begin with, chapters get increasingly more meaty and linear, smut and darker stuff to come.
1. Interview

_**Interview**_

Every single day in Albuquerque was hot as hell, it seemed, and dry. At least Rockford had it's share of overcast days, a breeze and cold winters. This was just heat, and the years there had not seemed to acclimatise her to it. The heat of the busy waiting room along with her encroaching nerves made her fan herself with a magazine and begin to worry that she would be stepping into an interview with pit marks on her blouse.

Kate was not always a particularly anxious person, especially in work situations like this when she knew what she was talking about. There was something, pathetically, about the fact that he was pretty well known that added to the butterflies in her stomach, and she tried to remind herself that he was mainly on at 3am, appealing to insomniacs and sofa masturbators. It wasn't like he was famous for Christ's sake, and she _knew_ how to make a good impression, she knew how to talk.

She tapped her foot in midair, lifting her chin slightly and letting her eyes scan the people in the room. It was unfair of her to be judgemental, but it was immediately obvious that this was the office of a criminal lawyer who wasn't picky about his cases. A very skinny guy with very few teeth who looked much older than he probably was, a woman who looked much the same, a woman who looked in her 40's who was almost definitely a prostitute bouncing a kid on her knee etc. They had a right to legal representation as much as anyone else, even if they had committed a crime. People were people.

"Katie Dent? You can go in now." The receptionist, who looked less than happy in her work said, and _Kate_ did not correct her.

"Thanks." She smiled pleasantly as she passed, picking up her little black handbag and opening the heavy wooden office door.

"Hey there! Saul Goodman." He immediately stood when she entered and closed the door behind her.

Everything about the room, including the man in it, seemed to fit together. The constitution plastered on the wall behind him, the blue carpet, and the little ornamental affectations on every surface embodied everything she had seen in those cheesy ads. So did he. Under his dark brown pinstripe suit, his shirt was pale yellow, and his tie was lilac, and she couldn't divine where he had got the idea that it was an attractive combination. He held himself though like a man who was totally self-assured in his own skin, and his own horrible outfit. It kind of worked.

They shook hands, and she smiled pleasantly and introduced herself, and handed him her resume and did all that interview-stuff that was impossible to continue in day to day life. She spoke like a professional, and chuckled politely at every little joke he made (and there were a few). Kate was the absolute picture of professionalism and friendliness, and she hoped he was buying it.

"So, you don't even wanna get paid? That sounds too good to be true." He raised his eyebrow, and laughed a little.

"Well basically, it looks good when I'm applying for jobs at firms or set up my own practice that I've had some experience in varied areas. Criminal law is something I'm fairly inexperienced with and so yeah, I'm happy to be an intern or something." She said honestly with a nod.

Saul looked at her a moment, brow slightly furrowed. The idea of having her around wasn't unpleasant by any stretch, he kept finding his eyes drawn to her lips when she spoke, noticed her slightly upturned nose and the little flush in her cheeks. She was cute. But he wasn't about to let lecherousness put him in a position where someone was going to be knowing about the less reputable side of his business. He'd only set up the interview in hopes of getting an extra pair of hands to make coffee and appointments, not anything more.

"Ah, look, I'm sorry but I just don't think this will work right now. I mean to be perfectly honest there's just not that much for you to _do_ here." He shrugged slightly.

Feeling it slipping out of her fingers when all had been going so well, she leaned forward slightly on the chair and put a hand on the desk. Hail Mary time. Ave Maria.

"Okay, let me be honest," She had to be brave, "I don't want to be sitting at your side, looking over your shoulder at everything you do and scribbling little notes of everything you say. I'll do filing, paperwork, and occasionally come to shadow you when you go on call outs, so I can write on my resume that I have experience with criminal law. Shit, I'll even bring you coffee when you want it." She laughed nervously, maybe the swearing had gone too far.

Saul wasn't easily swayed, even by pretty girls, but he felt himself coming around to the idea.

"You don't have to be worried about discretion at all, I know that there are people out there that have done bad stuff and you're going to try and help them get away with it." She said, figuring she could either be totally honest and not get the job, or give in and still not get it.

"Well-" He held up his hands, putting on his best 'I am not a crook' face.

"No. I know that's what can happen and that's okay. People shouldn't have their lives ruined by a dumb mistake, or two, and get tossed around a substandard judicial system." Kate stopped herself, licking her lips, she was getting on her soapbox now.

"Substandard judicial system you wanna work for?" He smirked a little bit, liking her more and more.

Weighing up her response, and reminding herself that she was not talking to a friend in a bar, she sat back in her chair and gathered herself a little bit. Professional. Professional.

"I'll work for it when it's right to do so, and against it when it's right to do so." Kate replied, and tucked a piece of loose hair behind her ear. At least his office was air conditioned.

"Well you sure do have the gift of the gab, kid." He had to agree, shaking his head a little bit and looking down at the sheet of paper she had handed him. Letting out a breath, he seemed to consider it a little closely, and she felt a little flicker of hope.

"So you're in your last year or law school, done real well so far, office experience, great. You're 27?"

"Yeah I started college a little… late." She admitted, glancing down at her fingers.

He let out a little knowing chuckle that rumbled in his chest at the thought. "Tell me about it."

She didn't question when he had gone to law school, or where. Saul was sitting back in his chair now, elbow resting on the arm and seeming to start to relax. It was difficult not to mirror that a little bit, she wasn't sure why she was feeling more at ease, but she was. Kate had been face to face with plenty of lawyers trying to get these internships, nearly all were humourless, severe, boring or all three. This guy was definitely none of those things.

"And uh, do I detect a little familiar accent in there?" He asked, looking over the paper knowingly. She smiled, having heard it from him too.

"Rockford, Illinois." She admitted with a nod. "And I'm gonna go… Straight up Chicago."

" _Buzz_ , you're out," he said emphatically, "Cicero." The word came out of his mouth before he'd even had chance to check who he was talking to, and he hesitated slightly, trying to shake the slip in his own self-preservation.

Kate made a face of mild surprise and laughed, this was a normal conversation, this was going well.

"Okay," He slapped his hand on the table. "I have a big pile of case files in the closet behind Francesca's desk, that's my cheery receptionist, they're all out of order, total mess, basically, they need reading through, copied and filed away if I've worked with 'em, destroying if I haven't. Boring stuff."

"I can do that." She nodded assuredly.

"And uh, I guess you can come with me from time to time on meetings and whatnot, watch the magic happen." He had a dirty little laugh that kept slipping out and it amused her slightly. "So, when can you start?" He lifted his hands.

Slightly overwhelmed and incredibly pleased, she pursed her lips to fight back her smile.

"Monday?" She suggested, not stopping with the boldness.

"Done." He knocked on the table and held out his hand to her across the desk, standing, and she took it, trying her best to give a firm handshake with her small hand in his large one. "We'll get ya set up in that desk there." He nodded to the table in the corner, covered in books she was sure were for show. "And, how does $9 an hour sound?"

Taken aback, she stammered slightly for the first time in the conversation. "I uh- g-great. Cool." She nodded quickly.

"Great."

Before she knew it, Kate was standing in the parking lot outside the Offices of Saul Goodman and Associates with a paid part time job and slightly flummoxed as to how exactly she had pulled it off. She had to grin to herself as she straightened her jacket and went back to her car impressed with herself and a little giddy to get started.

* * *

 **Please do follow and review, kids.**


	2. A Couple of Kilograms

_**A Couple of Kilograms**_

For the first few weeks, working for Saul was not nearly as interesting as she'd hoped it might be, sure, she got to _see_ a lot of interesting characters, but as soon as they actually came in the office it was her routine to put whatever file she was checking off down, pick up another to read through and sit in the reception booth with Francesca, making small talk until the person had left again. However, after a couple of times this was quite enjoyable, she eventually felt comfortable enough to laugh at jokes about Saul, (not quite brave enough to contribute any of her own right away though).

Initially, she had felt a little awkward about sitting in an office by herself with Saul, but it was only two days a week around college, and when both of them were actually in the office, they fell into often quite entertaining conversations. Occasionally, running into the clients was fun too, on the way out of his office one day she held the door open for an older woman, clearly a little high and missing a front tooth.

"Hey, you're pretty hun, ever thought about stripping?" She asked, wobbling slightly. Kate bit back too much of a laugh shaking her head.

"It's never entered my mind to be honest, no." She smiled.

"It has mine." Saul mumbled, and she gave him a pointed look, he held up his hands defensively, and she rolled her eyes, leaving the office. It sort of started a precedence of him making fairly inappropriate jokes but not quite stepping over the line. One day he would push it too far and irritate her, but it hadn't happened yet. She had much more of a tolerance for this from him, he had the irritating virtue of actually being quite charming and funny at the same time.

As the weeks turned into months, he realised he was up to some shady stuff, she wasn't dumb. Reading through old case files let her get an insight into how, sometimes amazingly, he managed to get clearly guilty people out of serious trouble. Sometimes he would rush her out of the room a little faster, and invite her back in looking uncharacteristically serious or contemplative.

There were a couple of events, just little things, that pushed them a little further away from colleagues and a little closer to something like friendship.

Occasionally, she'd bring him a danish when he didn't ask her to, they'd both forget they were supposed to be working and get into long debates about movies, he gave her a ride home one day when it was raining and her car was out of commission, and asked her about her life.

That one was a turning point; they were outside work, they were chatting and she actually divulged.

It had been a long day, and she had rested her head back against the leather rest. The radio droned quietly in the background, falling into white noise, and she watched the streets roll by, enjoying comfortable company but looking forward to being home by herself.

"So what brings you all the way down to New Mexico? I don't think a day's passed when you haven't complained about the heat."

"Well uh, I kind of just ended up here." She shrugged, looking out of the window.

"No shit." He turned down the radio. "Come on is it a dark secret? I'm a lawyer, kid."

She laughed and looked at him. "First of all, enough 'kid,' I'm approaching 30, and second of all, it's not dark it's just kinda depressing? You ready for that?"

"Bring it on." He gestured with his left hand, right hand on the wheel.

"Kay, well, my grandma lived in assisted living down here and she was really sick, dying, and no one was taking care of her. This is my mom's mom by the way if you're wondering what kind of warm and lovely woman raised me, by the way." She raised her eyebrow. "So I moved down, I was kind of sick of home anyway, thought I might like a change of scenery. Moved grandma back into her house and lived with her for while."

"How come your mom didn't want to take care of her?" He dared to asked, looking over at her. "Am I pushing it asking?"

"Yeah, but I don't care." She shrugged. "It's kind of funny, actually, I guess."

"Now you gotta tell me."

"Okay, my mom stopped speaking to my grandma, because my grandma bought a ranch down here and started growing… herbs."

"Your mom stopped talking to her mom because she started growing herbs?" He wasn't getting it, frowning at the road

"Herbs, Saul, _herbs_." She turned to face him with her whole body, eyebrows raised. "You know, the medicinal type…"

There was a long moment when she was wondering if he was actually more dense than she could ever have thought. He was still looking ahead with confusion, mouth slightly open. When it clicked, he looked shocked, and delighted.

"Your grandma was a pot dealer?" He exclaimed.

"More of a farmer than a dealer." She shrugged, laughing at his reaction. "She got caught for it, got arrested, but she was old by then and there were a couple of mistakes in the trial. Anyway she got away with it, but my mom wouldn't talk to her and forbade me from talking to her."

"But you still did?"

"Of course I did. She wasn't a bad woman, she just did whatever she wanted and I kind of respected that." She said honestly. "I wasn't about to let her die in one of those fucking old person holding cells with no one around that loved her."

Saul knew he liked her for a reason.

"Well you're very selfless, that's a big thing to do." He said, hoping it sounded as sincere as he was being.

"Yeah, and maybe, and don't tell anyone." She looked at him. "Maybe she had a couple of bags of weed left."

"What? Like a couple of dime bags?"

"Like a couple of _kilograms_." She corrected.

"And what? Did you sell it?" He could feel himself getting kind of giddy at the prospect.

"No! I don't know anything about being a drug dealer, god."

"What, did you smoke it?"

She laughed again, shaking her head. "No, I did not smoke 6 kilograms of weed."

"What then? Are you going to leave me hanging now? Just when you got really interesting."

"Are you going to tell on me?" She asked, looking at him. He looked away from the road and at her. This was not something she should be saying to her boss, she knew that. But he was not the straightest shooter himself, and it emboldened her to talk openly with him.

"Let's call this a consultation. What happens in the Caddy, stays in the Caddy, trust me on that." He said firmly.

She considered him a moment.

"Okay, I got my friend to sell it, gave him a cut of the profits."

"Wow." He said, letting out a slight laugh and shaking his head.

"What?" She asked, wondering if she had made a mistake telling him.

"I just didn't expect that from you," he shook his head, mouth upturned, "Can't judge a book right?"

"I wanted to go to Law school." She shrugged. "Starbucks wasn't gonna get me there. I used my inheritance. My inheritance just happened to be illegal substances…"

He laughed out loud; she really was great.

Looking back that moment was when they properly stepped over the threshold to friendship. There had been an understanding that what he was doing wasn't always 100% legal, and now he knew about a little something from her past that he guessed many people didn't. They were on even ground, (though he was probably pretty far ahead on the immoral front). She wasn't the paragon of virtue she looked like. It was kind of hot to him, really.

* * *

Kate showed up to work very tired and a little hungover one Friday morning, and was greeted by Saul in a particularly bright pink shirt holding two tickets to a showing of Alien at her local theatre.

"Got two tickets 'cause I remembered you said you were a big fan and it only occurred to me after that you might find it a little weird. Honest and pure as my intentions are always, in all areas of life."

She smiled a little.

"You don't have to say yes, I'm not gonna fire you if you don't." He held out the ticket towards her. "I can always take one of my many beautiful Alien fan friends."

"No, no." She said quickly, smiling. "I do really want to go, thank you." She took the ticket. "Just so long as we're both clear though, this is not a date."

"We'll call it a work bonding trip. You want me to pick you up at 8?"

"Sure, I'll text you my address."

"It's a date." He said with over-cheeriness.

She put her middle finger up at him as she left the office. "You're fired!" He called after her, and she grinned to herself, closing the door.

The prospect of the evening at the movies with him was in equal parts odd and worryingly exciting, and she found herself distracted in her filing for the rest of the day. Mainly, she was wondering if this was too weird, too much. If she text her friend right now and told her what she was doing, she would assume it was a date, because that's what it seemed like.

Was she attracted to him? No… She didn't think so anyway. It usually took her a while to be able to start seeing someone that way, and she hadn't seen him like that yet. Also, she'd had male friends before and hung out with them one on one, why was this any different?

She shook her head imperceptibly, writing 'worked with - misdemeanor' on the front of a file. Maybe she had noticed that he wasn't an _unattractive_ guy. When he was relaxed at his desk and not paying attention to her, she did notice that there was something pleasing about his face that was hard to notice when he was in 'better call Saul' mode. He had nice eyes too, kind of pretty even. His voice was definitely nice to listen to, kind of masculine and pleasing.

She looked over at him, tapping her pen on the paper. If she was going to pick out attractive things about him, he had nice hands as well, that was what you were into, (which she was).

Concluding that she had the potential to be attracted to him but definitely wasn't, she got back to work and stopped overthinking this, thinking instead about Alien.

* * *

 **I sort of liked the idea of him liking this girl partly because she's good and kind and partly because she's also got slightly skewed morals. I feel like he couldn't really connect with an angel? I don't know, maybe you'd disagree. Please review! x**


	3. Not A Date

_**Not A Date**_

 _ **A Few Years Ago**_

"Grandma, you cannot keep putting bourbon on your shopping list, I'm not going to buy it for you." Kate bustled through the door with armfuls of grocery bags, and kicked it closed behind her.

"Why not?" The rough, cigarettes-since-thirteen voice called from the living room. "How square are you?"

"It's not about being square," she called back, dropping her keys on the kitchen table and setting down the bags. "You can't have alcohol with your medication."

"Oh, those doctors." She called back dismissively. Kate began to unpack the groceries, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, those goddamn medical professionals wanting you to be healthy? Such bastards." She smiled, putting away jars and tins.

"What? I'm gonna die anyway! I can't have a little bourbon?"

"Dude, come on!" Kate called back, laughing a bit. "Don't be so morbid."

"I'm not being morbid! You think I'm not gonna die? Think I'm a vampire over here? You're going to die too pretty girl, everyone does."

"You see this is why I love living with you," She found the bag with a large bottle of water, and took it through to the living room. "I get to be constantly reminded of my own mortality. Drink this."

Her grandmother was in her armchair, as she always was, feet propped up and watching the TV. She was in her pyjamas, but had clearly managed to shower and even had a little makeup on, as always. Her thin, dyed red hair was turning grey at the roots, and Kate made a mental note to get another box of colour the next time she was out; grandma hated grey hair.

"You trying to internally drown me?" She unscrewed the cap of the water, looking up at Kate slyly.

"I'm trying to keep you hydrated, smartass." She watched her take a sip. "More please. You can't live off coffee and pepsi, okay? Not in this heat."

"Deprive me of my alcohol, deprive me of my caffeine, why don't you just send me back to the old person home?"

"Oh don't be such a baby, you can have as much caffeine as you want you just have to drink water _as well,_ okay? Drink."

"I'm drinking, I'm drinking." She waved her hand, taking a long sip. "You look very pretty today, you should wear these sundresses more often." Grandma leaned forward in her chair, touching the hem of her skirt.

"It's too hot here, don't have much of a choice." Kate eyed the pale yellow material flowing round her.

"I like the heat," Grandma shrugged, "Chicago was always so goddamn cold, and grey."

"Not all the time," Kate said, and sat back on the couch. "I liked the cold."

"Then go back to it you schmuck." Grandma tapped her leg.

"And leave you to go back to that rip off of a nursery? No. Sandpiper Crossing can kiss your ass, and mine." Kate said bitterly. "And I don't wanna go home yet, grandma, mom was such a nightmare."

"Yeah, I raised a real bitch." Grandma shook her head, and made Kate laugh loudly.

"Your words, not mine."

"She took good care of you though, hun. Kept you healthy, educated."

Looking at her fingernails, Kate chewed her bottom lip, thinking of her mother. "I know grandma. I'm not saying I'm never going to go back, and I talk to her on the phone all the time. She just got so…"

"Uptight."

"Exactly."

"Yeah well, I can't blame her for being mad at me. Just don't end up not talking to her, okay? Don't end up like me and her. You promise?"

"Yes."

"Say the words, blondie."

"I promise." Kate chuckled.

"Good, and I want you to promise me something else too."

"What?"

"You won't stay here just for me." Her grandma took her hand firmly, and looked her dead in the eye, not joking. "The minute you wanna go home Katie, you go."

"I know grandma, I will, I promise."

"Good." She squeezed her hand and let go, picking up the remote for the TV. "Now find me Matlock, would ya? It's starting."

* * *

 ** _Now_**

Kate cocked her head to the side and wrinkled her nose at her reflection. She'd put on weight lately, not quite enough that it was awfully noticeable, just enough to make her jeans a little tighter on her behind and press into her belly. It wasn't something that horrified her, and it wasn't surprising either: living alone and having a job on top of law school meant a lot of late night take outs and beer. It wasn't like Saul would care, and it wasn't like she would care if he did. Her t-shirt was pale pink, and figure hugging, but came up to her collarbone, she saved cleavage for late night club trips, as there was a lot of it when she let it show.

Running a hand through her hair, and eyeing the unbleached roots, she pursed her lips and decided that she looked plenty good enough for sitting in the dark and watching a movie in silence with her boss.

As she was tying her sneakers her phone buzzed beside her on the couch.

' _ **Your place is the one with the flower box on the window right?'**_

' _Yep.'_

A couple of seconds later, he knocked and she tucked her phone into her bag and got up to open it.

"What's up buttercup?" He held out his hands in that so very Saul Goodman way. She immediately took in his outfit, because it was so strange how normal he looked. Jeans and a black t-shirt, and some pretty expensive looking white Nike's. He just looked like your average, 40-something year old dude, it was weird.

"I'm seeing a disturbing like of fuchsia." She said with a raised eyebrow, openly looking him up and down.

"What? I gotta dress like a fashion icon in my downtime too?" He stepped into her living room. "And don't look at me like that I'm not a piece of meat."

Kate laughed as he openly surveyed her living room/kitchen, a hand in his pocket, as if scanning the room for something that would give a bit of information on her, which everything pretty much did.

"Cozy." He said, eyes lingering on the chintzy cushions and blankets on her couch, which didn't match the armchair beside it. All for affordability's sake, not affectations. She had a lava lamp on the little end table next to the couch, behind it on the wall she had framed a large Close Encounters poster. They were all little touches the endeared the place.

"If that's your word for cheap then, yeah." She said self-deprecatingly.

"No, it is cozy. My place is so big and shiny-"

"'And I have a huge flat screen TV and my wallet can't hold all my cash. I get it." She grinned.

He snickered, checking is watch. "You know I didn't mean it like that, smartass, you ready?"

"Yes, let's get us some Sigourney Weaver." She stepped out of the house in front of him, and he looked at the back of her hair, her back, and her jeans stretched over her ass when she walked out. He wasn't a priest for Christ's sake. And it was a nice ass. Really nice. Jesus, actually…

Kate was speaking to him and he realised he wasn't taking in the words; making eye contact with her when she turned to face him, he just nodded noncommittally, hoping that she hadn't been asking him a question. She seemed satisfied, as he opened the door of his car for her and she slid in with a slight smile. It didn't really occur to him that chivalry really was not necessary until after he had done it.

"So, how's school going?" He asked when they got on the road.

"It's great mom, how's work?"

"Jeez, are you capable of not being sarcastic for two seconds?"

"Nooooo." She shouldn't resist replying with exaggerated sarcasm. He did laugh a bit, but shook his head and called her a dick with his eyes. "It's going okay, I mean, it's hard and can be frustrating, and thinking about how long it takes to actually get anywhere with it is kind of scary. I just know that I could be good at it, and I wish I could just goddamn _do it,_ you know? I feel like if I took the Bar right now I would pass. But maybe I'm being cocky."

"Nah, it'll be a cakewalk for you. Smart as a whip, good talker, real-world experience. A little cockiness goes a long way you know, too."

"Was it a cakewalk for you?"

"Course." He shrugged, smiling to himself looking out of the window, he wasn't elaborating, and she wasn't going to push the topic. "So what are you thinking? Criminal law? Commercial?"

"Criminal law is the most interesting one I think, maybe human rights though. I guess I'll be taking on all comers when I first start, huh?"

"Pretty much." He said, and again, she seemed to disable his filter because the next thing out of his mouth was. "I used to do elder law."

"Elder law? No way." She beamed, looking shocked. "You used to do wills and all that stuff?"

"Why do you sound so surprised?" He asked defensively.

"I dunno, I just can't see you sitting in some old lady's house with a little cup of tea being all polite and stuff."

"Why not? I'm a sweetheart."

They arrived at the movie theatre, it was a huge chain place, not like the small independant old ones she was partial to. But she wasn't that fussy, she enjoyed being in the place, the smell of popcorn and the loud design of the carpet, and people excitedly lining up to see their movie. It had always been one of her most favourite places, the movies, and it was a nice change of pace not to be there alone, or dragged along with a classmate to a movie she had no interest in seeing.

The two went to the desk to show their tickets to the girl who looked like a college student and was tearing them; Kate was already eyeing the snack counter.

"Oh, I'm sorry sir, but unfortunately we've had to cancel this showing due to a problem with the screen in that room." The girl said, handing back his ticket.

Disappointed, she looked at Saul who she was hoping wasn't about to turn into a 'rude to people in the service industry douche.' He wasn't, but he was clearly annoyed, touching his fingers to his temples.

"I booked the tickets online, couldn't there have been an email or something?" He asked, irritation in his voice. Kate touched his arm placatingly.

"Hey, it's not a problem, Saul." She said, looking at the girl.

"I'm very sorry." The girl repeated.

"It's not your fault, sweetheart." Saul assured her with a sigh, giving Kate an apologetic look.

"If you want to exchange your ticket for a different movie we can do that no problem."

"Well we're already here," Kate shrugged at him. "Why not?"

They moved away back to the lines for tickets, Kate sending a quick "thank you" to her with a smile.

"Hey I'm sorry about this, pretty disappointing."

"Saul, seriously, it's not a big deal." She looked up at the TV's showing screen times. "What do you fancy?" She asked, elbowing him gently.

Determined to salvage the evening, he suggested something. "I got an idea, how about I surprise you, you get some nachos or something."

"Okay but if I end up sitting in a porno like Taxi Driver I'm leaving." She smiled, he went in his back pocket and took out his wallet, attempting to hand her a 50, she held up her hands. "I'll get it don't-"

"Would you not?" He said. "I'm treating my most trusted employee, and it's not all for you, get me some Reese's pieces would ya?" He put the note in her palm and wouldn't take it back. "Buy yourself something pretty."

Sheepishly, she smiled and made her way over to the snack counter, getting them both a soda first and wondering what movie he would go for. Already, she was enjoying seeing him out of his element, he actually wasn't cracking wise every other sentence, he hadn't commented on anybody's tits, and he was buying her food. That last one was probably the best part, admittedly.

While he waited in line, he glanced over at her browsing the shelves of candy, holding two huge soda cups. It wasn't like he hadn't paid attention to her from behind before, but he noticed now the definition of her waist, and the tiny bit of muffin top evident if you looked long enough. She was cute, but that didn't matter. When it got to the point where he wasn't just glancing, he was ogling, he looked away. Looking at her wasn't hurting anything right? So long as touching her wasn't entering his mind.

They met up again, she gave him his change and chocolate with an expectant grin.

"So, what are we watching?"

"Okay, get this: Nicholas Cage is a time-travelling doctor who finds a cure for cancer, _in the past_."

She laughed out loud. "Are you kidding me? That sounds awful."

"Exactly, so it's probably hilarious." He started towards the escalator up to the screen. "You coming or what?"

Chuckling, she followed him.

The movie was everything she could have wanted, actually. It was hilariously terrible, and his presence just made it funnier. Luckily, very few people had turned up to the showing and they sat at the back, because mid-way through she began to hope that no one was trying to watch it unironically. Saul kept whispering jokes to her, and both laughed openly at particularly terrible dialogue. It made her feel like a teenager, telling stupid jokes and trying to be quiet enough not to get in trouble.

When they left, her cheeks were actually aching and she felt flushed. She really couldn't remember the last time she had laughed like that and honestly, neither could he. Once he decided he wanted to see her laugh as much as possible and maybe get her told off by an usher, he got on a roll.

As they were leaving the theatre, both decided they didn't really want to go home yet, but neither dare say anything, because a movie was one thing, but _dinner_ and a movie? Surely that was pushing it. It was late as well.

From leaving the theatre to getting in the car they were quoting lines back at each other, laughing away.

"I think that guy in the front was mad when you said 'how is this real?' super loud and ruined the tension." He pulled out of the parking lot.

"Who goes to see that movie _not_ expecting a little heckling?"

She found herself noticing that this was the first time she had actually seen his arms, given he was constantly in a suit. Kate had always had a thing for a nice pair of arms; his were... nice. She looked out of the window, leaning back on the headrest, it was dark, and she was beginning to feel a little tired as she watched the streets dart by, eyes catching the headlights of other cars, busy Friday night lines outside of bars.

Asking him if they could pick up drive thru was on the tip of her tongue, she was feeling too comfortable, and having too good a time to want it to end yet. But soon enough, they were outside her house, and it was time for it to end.

"Well, sorry that we didn't get to see Alien, they'll be receiving a strongly worded email from me, I assure you." He joked, and she chuckled softly. "Wasn't too painful though, I hope?"

"No it's been fun." She smiled, trying to downplay it. "So, I'll see you on Monday, then?"

"Uh-huh." He nodded, and for the first time it was a little awkward, goodbyes always were. She tapped her hands on her knees.

"Oh, and I'm on Spring break soon, so I might up my hours of that's okay with you?"

Back to work talk, back to reality.

"Of course, sounds great."

"Cool, well thanks for everything, next time I'll pay for the candy." She grinned, getting out of the car.

"I'll hold you to it." He said.

Kate could hearing the engine of the cadillac still going behind her when she walked to her front door and fumbled for her keys in her back, he was obviously watching her get inside safely. She sent him one last wave before stepping inside and closing the door behind her with a sigh.

Maybe it hadn't been a date, but it was the best not-date she'd had for a long time.

Saul watched the door closed behind her, and pulled away, letting out a long breath. Now in silence by himself, it was starting to dawn on him how good he felt. Better than any of the more wild nights he'd had in the past couple of years. He ran a hand through his hair, frowning at the road, and realised he felt so good because for the first time in a while, it was as if he could be himself with another person, he could be like Jimmy McGill.

* * *

 **I honestly feel like Saul/Jimmy would be like the best person to see a shitty movie with?**


	4. Actual Work

_**Actual Work**_

It was going to be Kate's first time meeting a client in police custody with Saul, and she had to admit that she was nervous. The case was a girl a little younger than herself who had got into a bar fight and was arrested for battery after severely breaking another girl's nose. It all rang a little familiar, and she was pretty confident she could come up with a defence. Electing to dress particularly smart, a grey pencil skirt suit and sensible black heels, she considered making breakfast but decided she couldn't stomach it. The outfit was uncomfortable and hot, but she did smile at herself in the mirror, thinking honestly that she looked pretty attractive in her professional garb.

"Hey there, Ally McBeal." Saul said when she slid into his passenger seat outside her house.

She smiled. "You wish I wore skirts as short as her."

"I wouldn't discourage your self expression." He winked, reaching behind him to the back seat and handing her a manilla folder. "Go over that, it's the police report, let me handle it, but you have any thoughts or ideas don't by shy, okay?"

"Got it." She nodded, letting out a breath and looking over the report.

"You look kind of nervous. Don't be, this is the easy part. The paperwork afterwards, that's what you gotta look forward to hating."

"Erm, I know? It's me who does all your paperwork." She raised her eyebrow.

"Oh yeah! So you get do see _all_ the hard work this time." He tapped her knee jovially, and surprisingly didn't let his hand linger for a second too long. It still sent a confusing flush to her cheeks though, which she didn't have time to dwell on.

The radio quietly sang in the background, and Kate looked over the file, trying to decide what defence she would create and wondering if Saul would match hers. For all his cheesiness, he was a damn good lawyer, he'd probably pull something out of the bag she'd never thought of. As usual, it was a hot day, she rolled down his window and hung her free hand out of it, enjoying the breeze. She would have to find time to go home in the winter, to Illinois, see her friends and enjoy a little cold for a goddamn change.

Noticing her huff and move some hair out of her face, he turned on the air conditioner. He had never really acclimatised to New Mexico weather either, and he could tell she was a little nervous as well. He could remember being nervous before this kind of thing, and court appearances, psyching himself up in the mirror and going over and over his argument.

Kate was chewing the inside of her mouth, frowning. For someone who could be so funny and vibrant, she was very serious when it came to her work, and he liked that about her.

They parked up at the police station, and he got out first to get his briefcase out of the trunk, straightening out his suit, and checking his hair quickly in the reflection of the rear window before rounding the car back to her. Leaning against the passenger side with the file tucked under her arm, she looked worried, and was biting her thumbnail.

"Hey," he nudged her elbow gently, "you're gonna end up with nails like mine. Quit worrying okay? These places are a lot scarier than they look."

She tentatively smiled, actually feeling more reassured. Straightening her skirt and touching her hair, she nodded.

"How about you carry my briefcase? Makes me look important." He suggested, holding it out to her.

"Oh, I live to make you look important." She said, taking it.

"It's showtime." He said, leading the way into the building.

Walking into the police station with Saul kind of felt like walking with a safety blanket around her shoulders, only in the fact that the supremely confident attitude that he exuded the minute they stepped inside made her feel barely noticed, and therefore significantly more comfortable, which was exactly what she wanted in that moment.

There were very few people he saw walking down the hall that went without comment, he was all pointing and smiling. "Hey Jackie, long time no see," "Richarrrrd, making trouble?", "Hey sunshine, how are the kids?" From a couple of people he got back enthusiastic replies, from a lot he got looks of contempt or irritation that did not seem to faze him whatsoever. There was something quite impressive about the fact that he could walk into a building full of authority figures and immediately exert his presence.

He wasn't an incredibly tall man, but Kate had to pick up her usual pace significantly to make up for his stride, keeping the folder tucked firmly under her arm, and thumb working the leather handle of his briefcase. She made sure not to look nervous though, chin up.

Saul went to a desk and asked for his client, and was directed to an interrogation room close by.

Outside stood the two officers in charge, both men who looked to be in their forties, one tall, bald and rather muscular, and the other shorter and a little more plump, and possibly wearing a wig. Saul shook both of their hands, and Kate stepped forward too, waiting to do the same, but got nothing.

"This is my assistant, and up-and-comer, Kate Dent. Remember that name, okay?" He tapped her arm as he introduced her to the arresting officer, a sergeant by the name of Boggs.

"Why? Will I be seeing it plastered over every billboard in a 30 mile radius like her boss?" He asked with a slight mocking laugh to his partner. Kate immediately glanced at Saul to see if he had been bothered by the dig. Of course, he fired right back.

"Yeah! Maybe you'll need some lawyerly advice when they finally catch up to you for stealing Liberace's toupees." Saul returned the laugh, and the man looked less than amused. Kate literally bit her tongue, looking elsewhere and trying to fight off the smile.

"So, you got yourself a helper?" Boggs asked.

"Wonder what he saw in her." His partner mumbled as if she couldn't hear. Kate reflexively opened her mouth to politely tell him to go fuck himself when Saul jumped in.

"Isn't this a little small-fry for you gentlemen? I mean, a little cat fight in a bar? That's open and shut stuff." Saul said, looking between the two. The thought had never occurred to Kate. The two cops looked at each other and then back at Saul, barely acknowledging that she was there now. He didn't reply, but his smile faded and his eyes flashed, looking somewhat annoyed. Saul had clearly pissed a lot of people off, this Sergeant Boggs included.

"I'll be speaking to my client now, gentlemen. Miss Dent, if you would." He opened the door and held it open for her, following her inside closely.

The girl at the table looked up when they came in, biting the nail of her index finger. She looked even younger than she was, a chubby, Mexican girl; her long hair was slightly knotted and the makeup around her eyes smudged. Clearly she hadn't had much of a chance to wash up from the night before.

"Maria Hernandez, nice to see ya." He took a seat at the large table opposite her, and Kate sat down beside him, putting his briefcase on the desk and opening it for him, a touch that he enjoyed. Kate put the folder on the table in front of her, and slipped a notebook and pen out of her shoulder bag. "I'm your parent's attorney, Saul Goodman, they've asked me to come and see you."

"Okay." Maria quietly replied.

"So, what's the story, Raging Bull? From your point of view I mean, there's only so much information you get out of one of these police reports." Saul asked the girl.

"I can't really give you much more information." She mumbled looking at her fingers.

"Really?" Saul looked at Kate with histrionic surprise. '"Cuz they're saying assault with battery, they're saying unprovoked attack."

"Unprovoked? I told that bitch like 7 times to stop talking or she was gonna get smacked." She immediately fired up in defense.

"I'm sure you did." Saul said seriously. "Now, the play we're going to go for is _consent_ , this was not you punching another girl, this is you and a girl agreeing to fight one another, you are both equally guilty of public intoxication, you don't go back to that bar, easy peasy."

Kate nodded, that was the defense she had worked up as well.

"In order to get there though, we need to know what happened. What did she say to warrant your… retaliation?"

The girl let out a breath: "We kept seeing each other in this bar, and one night I was trying to get a drink but her and her friends were in the way," Kate was scribbling away on the pad while Saul nodded attentively. "So I asked them to move, and this girl called me fat."

"Awful." Saul said, shaking his head.

"So like, this kept happening every time we saw each other little comments and stuff, I called her a rich cunt, she called me a fat bitch." She said simply; Kate pursed her lips, just writing down 'verbal disagreements.' "One night I was like, 'if you say one more thing to me I'm gonna smack you,' and she did, so I smacked her." She shrugged.

"Did you intend to hurt her as badly as you did?" Kate asked.

"No! I didn't know the bitch's nose was gonna get broken, and I didn't know who she was."

Kate checked the name of the alleged victim on the file.

"Cecelia Budge?" She confirmed.

"Yeah, her dad's some big shot Senator." Maria shrugged, rolling her eyes.

"As in Senator Robert Budge? I think I've tossed out about 50 of his flyers." Saul said.

"That'll explain the sergeants' outside." Kate said, raising her eyebrow, writing the name down on her paper and underlining.

Saul sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, and leaned over to whisper to Kate: "Our friendly republican senator will be out for blood, I'm guessing. Wants the girl who hurt his heiress behind bars."

Kate nodded, looking back at the increasingly nervous looking Maria.

"Okay, after you told her you would smack her, what did she say, _exactly?_ This is important." Saul asked her, tapping the table in front of Kate lightly to indicate he wanted her to write it down.

"She told me to bring it, or something like that, I was pretty drunk…"

"That's good. Did anyone hear her say this?" Kate asked.

"Well it was pretty busy, the guy behind the bar did, my friends, her friends."

"That's good." Saul said. "I think we can work up a decent case that will work in your favour, maybe a little community service but hey, chalk it up to work experience, you're a young girl right? Heh." He laughed a little bit.

"So you think you can get me off?"

"Miss, I am dedicated to providing you with the very best legal representation money can buy." He said; Kate bit back a smile. He could have got an Oscar for that dramatic performance. "Speaking of which…"

While he went through his costs, Kate made an extra couple of notes and began to pack her stuff in her handbag. She gathered up Saul's suitcase for him and they stood to leave. He said goodbye and shook her hand.

"Don't worry okay? Mr Goodman is an excellent lawyer." Kate said, and shook Maria's hand.

The two left the room. "I could get used to this." Saul muttered to her when the door closed behind them, and she chuckled.

"Don't get a big head, I was just being reassuring." She mumbled back.

"Well you were very convincing."

The two sergeants' in charge approached them. They had such an air of combativeness about them under their faux smiles that irritated Kate, clearly they had it out for Saul, and now for this girl on orders from on high. At least Saul had probably earned their contempt, Maria had just done something stupid to the wrong person.

"Pretty simple stuff, girl gets intoxicated, punches innocent victim in the face, causes potentially permanent damage." Boggs said.

"Permanent damage? This nose has been broken more times than Tyson's and look at me, Armani material." Saul gestured to his face.

"This girl had a bright future ahead of her, until this violent attack."

"Can we stop talking about little Cece Budge like she's an entirely innocent victim?" Kate piped up. "Yes, violence is never the answer, but she was involved in verbal confrontations with this girl for weeks, she was drunk and she got in a fight." She said simply, with a shrug. "She lost."

Boggs let out a little amused noise, looking at his partner and then Saul.

"Got yourself a little protege here, Goodman. She's even sounds like you."

Not getting directly spoken to irked her as much as the patronization.

"Well, I hope I've been rubbing on off on her somewhat." Saul spoke a little quieter and didn't join in on the joke, which she was glad for.

"I bet you have." Boggs replied, and he and his partner laughed like he had said something incredibly witty. Saul didn't, looking annoyed and getting ready to leave.

Not willing to just walk away and let them think they had won one over on her, she cocked her head and frowned.

"What was that?" She asked innocently.

"Nothing, sweetheart." He waved his hand, still snickering, nudging the smaller man with his elbow and getting ready to walk away.

"No, I don't get the joke, please explain it to me." She pressed, tucking a bit of hair behind her ear.

They seemed to realise what she was doing, and Boggs raised his hand placatingly. "Look, you don't have to be like that."

"What? Are you embarrassed to tell it now? Is it because it was wholly inappropriate and unprofessional?" She raised her eyebrow with a steely, half smile. "Because it was."

"Listen honey-"

"Okay, _honey_ , I'll save you some time. You did not shake my hand when I arrived, you were immediately rude to Mr Goodman without cause, and you have made repeated allusions to the idea that I might be having sex with my boss, so I'm going to save you some time: I may be on the look out for whatever friends I can make around here, but please do not think that gives you the right to be straight up rude and disrespectful." Kate held out her hand for him to shake, and, not seeming to realize he was doing it, Sergeant Boggs shook it. "I'll see you in court."

In that moment, Saul wasn't sure if he wanted to high five her, shout 'oooooooh!', scruff her hair or kiss her. Instead, he sent one last grin and finger-guns to the police officers' and followed her out of the building, her pace quick, heels clicking on the floor. Feeling his chest puffed out even more than normal he made a mental list of things to tell her, first being: you are the best, second being: please wear pencil skirts every day forever.

She slowed down to a stop when they got to a parking lot, feeling her heart racing a little bit as it tended to do after a confrontation.

"I'm sorry, that was so…" She put her palm on her forehead, immediately mortified. "Ugh, I just lost my temper, I'm really sorry."

"Hey," Saul put his hands on her upper arms. "That was _hilarious_ , you made those two douchebags look like idiots. You were professional, and might I add, a little terrifying." He let go of her when she smiled. "More of that, kid, more of that."

Kate could not fight the grin off her face as she got in the car, sitting on the heated up leather from the sun. Still hot, she immediately took off her suit jacket and rolled up her shirt sleeves, subtly undoing a button off her shirt as well in an attempt to cool off. Saul hadn't got in the car yet, standing in his open door and lighting a cigarette between his lips.

"You eaten much today?" He asked, taking a drag and taking off his own jacket.

"Just coffee." She admitted.

"Well, I'm taking you for breakfast, you've earned it."

"Don't you want to get back to the office?"

"I try not to schedule my appointments before noon."

"Of course." She said, slipping off the shoes that were rubbing her feet and wiggling her toes. He finished his cigarette, and got back in the car.

"Pancakes, or bacon?"

* * *

 **Give us a review, pal.**


	5. Wandering Thoughts

_**Wandering Thoughts**_

Kate had a sex dream about Saul. She had a sex dream about him, and she _could not get it out of her head._

It was one of those dreams that when she woke up, it took her a while to realise it hadn't happened, and she laid in a daze of the memory of it, looking up at her ceiling for a while with her hands in her hair. Her main thought was 'where the fuck did that come from?' And secondary to that was 'that was kind of hot.' It hadn't been particularly dirty or illicit, they had just been in her bed, she was on top and moving slowly, he was holding her hips and telling her she was gorgeous. At the point when he sat up and kissed her, kissed her _good_ , she woke up suddenly, cheeks flushing, and slightly wet between her legs.

She was old enough to have had plenty of sex dreams about people she didn't actually want to have sex with, but this one would not leave her brain, and she was embarrassed by how much her dream self had been enjoying it. The thought of it was arousing too, she couldn't help it, and while she put her makeup on she started to think about them having sex outside the dream, in different places, different positions.

' _This is normal. Everybody does this. It doesn't mean anything.'_

Putting the thought from her mind, she set off for work, listening to a podcast on the way but not really listening.

When she arrived and unlocked the door of his office, she was glad to see he wasn't there yet, and she got herself set up at the table in the corner of his room, pulling out her pile of cases for the day, and setting out her laptop, pens and notebook. There was a little kitchen behind Francesca's booth where she made herself, Saul and Francesca a cup of coffee. Kate yawned widely while she poured out the cups, eyes watering slightly, it was early, but Saul liked to start early, so he could pick up his overnight phone calls and deal with them throughout the day.

She sweetened hers to taste, and left Francesca's on her desk, scribbling a quick, 'Good morning, sunshine,' post it and sticking it to the cup.

Saul still hadn't arrived when she re-entered, and she set down his coffee on a coaster. She didn't like the decoration of his office; she rested her hands on the back of his leather office chair and considered the carpet and wall decoration. It was too much.

"Good morning!" Saul entered the room, briefcase in hand, looking towards the table she was usually at, and finding her behind his desk. "Hey, that's not your seat yet, it takes many a year to earn that throne." He closed the door behind him.

"I was just setting down your coffee, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine." She said, pointing to it.

"Oh-ho, very witty first thing in the morning, woke up on the right side of the bed did we?" He asked, and of course immediately she remembered exactly what had woken her up, and images of sweaty chests, gripping hands and whispered 'oh fuck's,' came to mind.

"Something like that." She returned to her table and picked up her coffee, taking a sip.

"I'm glad you're here today," He said, "I have a favour to ask you."

"Go on…"

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Oh big plans. Microwave meal and a couple of DVD box sets, bed by 10:30." She smiled.

"Great, because I was invited yesterday, short notice if you ask me, to a little drinks affair held by a big Albuquerque firm called Pryce and Royle, and I need a date. Ah, before you jump the gun: free drinks, food and you can take a couple of hours for lunch if you don't have a fancy dress."

"Jesus Saul, that _is_ pretty short notice." The fact of accompanying him to something like that might have fazed her, but it was much less intimate than seeing a movie together and it couldn't hurt to mingle with successful lawyers.

"I know, I know. Feel free to shoot me down, but it's a classy affair, calls for a classy lady." He gestured to her. "And, can't hurt for an aspiring lawyer to go to an event like this, right?"

She chewed the inside of her mouth.

"Okay, I'm in."

"Great." He clapped his hands together. "It's at 7pm so you can finish a little early if you like, I don't know how long it takes you young ladies to get ready. I know I've gotta have my prep time."

She laughed, and switched on her laptop.

After lunch, Kate had moved herself to the couch in the corner and made herself comfortable while she went through the files, eyes growing slightly glazed the more that she did. Occasionally there would be an interesting one though, and she would take her time reading through that.

Saul looked over at her. She looked as if she were at home reading a challenging book, brow furrowed, pen just gently tapping her lips. At some point she had taken off her shoes, one leg was tucked under her bottom and she was gently swinging her the other over the edge of the couch, toes skidding over the blue carpet. He had not been entirely genuine when he told her his reasoning for taking her. Of course, he could go through his diary and pick out some woman's name that he tended to call late at night when the mood struck, but he didn't want to this time. It had become a common thought for him to find what ever opportunity he possibly could to spend time with her outside of the office.

The movies had been fun, but he hadn't been able to find an organic way to ask her again without making it sound like a date. She tucked some hair behind her ear and unknowingly pouted her lips little. He'd noticed she was pretty the first time she saw her, he wasn't blind, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, and to suppress some of the less than respectable thoughts he had been having about her, particularly after her spectacular turn against the officers' a couple of days before.

He stopped looking at her; he stopped looking at her smooth legs, and he stopped wondering if they felt as soft as they looked, and if they would feel that soft all the way up her thighs, and what they would feel like around his waist, or head.

Clearing his throat, he opened his email, and set his mind to other things.

* * *

 **Obligatory sex dream chapter, I love 'em.**


	6. Moves

_**Moves**_

 _ **A Few Years Ago**_

The loud thud from the kitchen broke Kate from her book, and immediately she rushed to her feet and out of the room, calling for her grandma as she did. Her heart immediately was drumming hard in her chest, and she almost tripped when she rounded the corner to the living room. Immediately, in the doorway of the kitchen, she could see her grandmother sprawled out on the floor, eyes closing. Her stomach dropped, and her hands got clammy, adrenaline was the only thing keeping her from dropping to the floor and calling for her mom.

"Grandma! Grandma!" She got to her knees beside her, holding her head, and feeling the back to see if she had hit it on the floor. Her eyes were opening and closing blearily. Kate fumbled in her back pocket for her cell phone, and punched in 911.

"Just… tripped- I'm… Why are you… Don't worry." She tried to lift her arm and touch Kate but she shushed her.

"Don't try to talk okay, just wait- Hello?" Kate kept her hand on her grandma's shoulder, as she slipped into unconsciousness. "Yes I need an ambulance, 5567, Poblanos Court. My grandmother has fallen, she's very ill."

The ambulance arrived quickly, and Kate was still trying to wake her grandma up on the floor, occasionally laying a hand on her heart and feeling her pulse. She felt sick, the colour had drained from her face and she could hear her heart hammering in her ears. The paramedics checked her over, and all Kate could do was stand in the corner of the kitchen, trying to regulate her breathing and remain calm as they opened grandma's eye and looked at her pupils, and asked Kate questions about her condition.

Kate rode with her to hospital, sitting beside her head in the ambulance and saying quietly:

"You're fine. Okay, you're fine. They're gonna look after you."

The doctors and nurses did look after her, but it wasn't enough. Illness, and age caught up to her, and Kate was told in the waiting room after a sleepless night of tests and emergency procedures, that there was nothing they could do. Kate held her hand when she died at 4:47am, the sun was just rising outside, and cast a peaceful orange glow in the room; she cried alone and quietly.

It was not until Kate returned to the house, that she found the note in her grandmother's end table, telling Kate to look under the basement floorboards, and do her best with what she found.

* * *

 _ **Now**_

The dress was gorgeous, and she had taken up Saul's offer to go and by it in her lunch break along with a new pair of shiny black pumps with a pretty conservative heel. She had gone for an understated cocktail dress, (he did tell her it was black tie), thick halterneck, sweetheart neckline and flowing black material. Looking at her reflection, and touching up the neater than usual, but still fairly messy, waves of her blonde bob, she had to take a minute to be conceited and admit that she looked great.

"Too much cleavage?" She said to herself quietly, doing a little turn. "Nah."

A knock at her door, this was getting familiar, and she swung the small evening bag onto her shoulder, doing a little finger guns at herself before leaving her bedroom to answer the door. She let out a quick breath, reminded herself that this was not prom, and opened it.

The reaction she got really could not have been better. He visibly let out a surprised exhale, and looked her up and down seemingly without being able to help it.

"Wow." He said with a slight laugh, not bothering to filter himself. "You look…" There was a long pause where he clearly searched for the appropriate words. "I think you'll be getting a lot of attention."

"Shit, I was trying to avoid that." She admitted with a slight chuckle

"No, no. It's subtle, it's just really… wow." Saul shook his head again, trying not to look at her chest, which was presented well in that neckline, a classy little silver pendant just resting above.

Kate pursed her lips and looked at the ground, his lack of ability to articulate really making her feel good, almost making her cheeks flush. He led her to the car, opened her door for her even, and she got in.

Saul would have told her she looked absolutely stunning, he was about to, but he couldn't help but feel like that was pushing it too far. Would it offend her though if he didn't say anything like that when she clearly had put so much effort in?

"If you hadn't gathered, you look really, amazing." He told her honestly when they set off.

She laughed a little bit. "Yeah, thank you, I got your meaning."

"Good." He said.

"You look great as well." She admitted now he had said something. His suit was navy, and seemed to fit him better than his others, a little more slim and tailored. The shirt underneath was pale blue with a white collar, and his tie was dark too. The gold tie pin in the knot brought it back to Saul though: smart and a little 80's. He smelled great as well, even though he maybe had put a little bit too much aftershave on, which she would never tell him.

Inside, the ballroom looked just as she expected, filled with people looking incredibly well put together, standing in groups and talking seriously, or laughing that affected, rich person laugh. It was a huge room with a marble floor, a long buffet table ran down the middle, and waiters walked around holding trays of champagne. It was like nothing Kate had ever been to before, and she immediately felt a little intimidated. Saul rested his hand just on her lower back as they walked in, and she scooped up two classes of champagne from a passing waiter, handing him one. She did somewhat notice being looked at by a couple of people that obviously knew Saul and was wondering who she was, but she sipped her wine, and ignored the attention.

"Gonna mingle, okay? You just be your charming self." He said quietly at her ear, and she nodded.

Of course, Saul had no hesitation in entering one of the groups of people, a mix of older men and women, a couple around his age, none of them anywhere near Kate's.

"Maven, Bruce, nice to see you again." He shook both their hands, and they were gracious in their acceptance, but Kate didn't miss the little looks exchanged among the others. Kate really did not like to be judgmental, but the women, as grand as their dresses were, were all wearing a ridiculous amount of makeup, like inches thick. She wondered if they were also lawyers or just miscellaneous rich.

They talked a little about things Kate did not know, or frankly care about, and after a while of trying to keep up with the conversation and being ignored, she tuned out. Looking round the room and sipping her wine. The music that played softly in the background was so innocuous she could barely pick up on a melody.

"Are you not going to introduce us to this lovely young lady?" One of the men asked.

"Of course! So rude of me, this is Kate Dent, law student and assistant extraordinaire. Get her number in your phones now guys." He said, and she smiled slightly embarrassed.

"So you're a law student, what area are you interested in?" Maven asked.

"I'm not entirely decided yet. Criminal law is what I've had my mind set on for a long time, but human rights too is fascinating, of course." She said.

"Takes a particular kind of intelligence for human rights law." One of the men said, and she wasn't sure if she was being oversensitive or if he was being condescending.

The conversation with those petered off, and Kate told Saul she was hungry and would be at the buffet table while he went to continue to shmooze. Kate was never entirely uncomfortable in situations with such professionals. It made her feel like a teenager to overhear conversations about things and people she had never heard of. She looked younger than she was as well, so while Saul attempted to make a group of very grey haired, very grey faced men laugh it his quips, she stood alone by the buffet, people probably assuming that she was someone's daughter, or escort. That was fine with her, the conversations she had overheard had been boring and any jokes had been dire.

Looking over at Saul, she took another sip of her wine. She couldn't hear him talking but she could see him gesticulating, and trying to look charming as he obviously led the conversation. Kate smiled a little, and wished he would come back to her, he'd make her laugh.

"Who are you with, then?" She had been too busy pining for her boss to notice a younger guy, probably in his early thirties, was standing beside her, one hand in the pocket of his exceedingly well tailored suit and the other lazily popping an olive into his mouth.

"I'm with Mr Goodman, Saul." She nodded over to him.

"Oh, they guy from those awful billboards? 'Better call Saul!'" He mocked, shaking his head with a slight laugh. Kate humoured him with a small laugh and a cursory shake of the head. She wasn't about to get all defensive, the billboards _were_ awful. "What are you his daughter? Girlfriend?"

She screwed up her nose at both those titles, particularly 'daughter.'

"No, I'm shadowing actually, I'm getting my own masters degree in law. Sort of working as an assistant to him for the moment." She shrugged off his assumptions.

"Impressive, although I'm not sure how much good a glowing reference from Saul Goodman will do you, I can see why he likes having you around." He was trying to flirt with her, as if his cocky demeanour and fashionable half-beard were going to melt her.

She clicked her tongue slightly, feeling herself get pushed too far. Kate always had a temper, and she found it hard to argue without getting overly-angry, not the best trait for a hopeful lawyer. Men like this always had a special way of getting to her though: arrogant and charmless.

"Huh, there's just so much to be offended by in that statement I don't know where to start." She smiled tightly.

"Hey, I'm just kidding around." He said placatingly. "You know he's not go the best reputation, right?"

"Well, I don't know," she shrugged, "he's pretty successful and all the judges love him."

The man laughed snottily now, leaning forward and speaking to her quietly.

"Where did he get his degree from again? 7/11 vending machine?" He was trying to bring her in on the joke, to get her to talk shit about Saul.

"Well, never underestimate the power of determination and a little charisma." She said quickly, wanting to get to the point. "Now, you're still over here talking to me so you're clearly determined but I'll let you in on a little secret: you're kinda lacking on the charm, green eyes."

"W-" He looked genuinely perplexed, which was almost hilarious.

"I'm gonna go ahead and leave you safe in the knowledge that you never had a chance anyway." She set down her empty glass on the table, and stepped behind the man.

Saul was standing not far behind him, drink in hand, and a little smirk on his face that said he had heard everything. She bit the inside of her mouth, and mentally berated herself for not just keeping her mouth shut for once.

"Shit, I'm sorry, I shouldn't really be arguing with potential business partners right?" She sighed, walking over to him and prepared for him to be a little annoyed.

"I'm not gonna complain about you standing up for me." He said slyly, raising his eyebrow.

"I wasn't standing up for you." She said quickly.

"And complimenting me."

"I wasn't doing that either."

"'Determination,' 'charisma,' 'successful…'" He reeled them off complatatively, putting a hand in his pocket.

"Shut up." She smiled.

"I never knew you cared."

"I don't."

They made eye contact, and both chuckled. Saul finished his drink and set it down on the table as well.

"You wanna get out of here?" He asked. "The food sucks and the company ain't much better."

Honestly, Kate was delighted.

"What do you suggest?"

"Well I was thinking, and don't say I don't have any class: drive thru cheeseburgers."

"Yes." She said immediately, her stomach practically groaning with approval. "I'm starving, and I need to take these goddamn shoes off like, right now."

He held out his arm, and she grinned and looped hers round his, feeling like she could skip out Wizard of Oz style. They caught a couple of glances as they left, and a bit of her wondered if they thought she was his girlfriend, but no part of her gave a shit if they did.

"Can we get fries?" She asked as they stepped out into the cooler evening air.

"What kind of monster do you think I am? Of course we can get fries."

The night turned out much better than it started.

They got their food and he drove off-road, she asked him a couple of times where they were going and he told her to trust him and that he wasn't going to murder her. She believed him. They were leaving the city, getting into desert, and he took a right up through a little tree-growth and up an incline.

They reached a look out, overlooking the entire city. It was just getting dark, she could see all the lights, the pale orange glow just fading on the horizon. There was a beauty to the place she had not seen since she moved there, and she was almost kind of speechless by how gorgeous it was.

"Wow." She said, shaking her head.

"C'mon." He got out and she followed suit, still somewhat amazed by the view. She wondered why he knew about it, if he came here a lot. Saul offered her his hand and she took it, and he helped her hop on the hood of his cadillac. The night air was warm, but there was just enough pleasant cool breeze to make her comfortable. He went in the car and got the bags food, placing it on the hood, and hopped up himself.

"Watch the paintwork." He said, as she slipped of her heels and let them fall off the front onto the sand, before settling herself back.

It was strange that he was the one that had brought her here. It was a rare perfect moment, she smiled to herself as she took a bite of her burger, and felt the cold metal beneath her feet. The city looked beautiful, the temperature was comfortable and without humidity, she was with a person that she was becoming as content with as an old friend, and she was eating very fattening, tasty food.

"Is this where you bring all your dates?" She asked eventually with a small smirk. "Make-Out Point?"

He chuckled. "If this _was_ a date I would have tried a lot more of my moves on you."

Kate laughed loudly, throwing her head back.

"Your moves, huh?"

"Yeah my moves," He said defensively, "And I'll have you know that they work 100% of the time." She raised her eyebrow. "Okay, 99."

"I'm sure you're very successful." She appeased with a chuckle, taking a sip of her soda.

There was another period of comfortable silence, quietly eating their food and enjoying the view and company.

"You've got me curious now." She said eventually.

"About what?" He asked, not looking at her, crossing his legs and leaning back on his elbow.

"Your moves."

She took long drink, beginning to feel full.

"What about my moves?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and a small smirk.

"Well, what are they?"

"Ah, a magician never reveals his tricks." He held up his hand.

"Come _on_ , tell me one."

Saul shook his head. "I can't really tell you, I can show you, nothing weird." He said, sitting up fully.

"Okay." She said with a small smile, turning to face him. He dusted off his fingers on a napkin, and sat up straight.

"Play along like I've been charming the pants off you all evening and you're a little drunk, okay?"

"Okay." She giggled.

He cleared his throat and straightened his tie like he was preparing for a monologue.

"You know, I've been wanting to ask you out for a while, I see you around all the time." He was speaking softly, his words coming from deep in his chest. He looked her directly in the eye as well, looking as charming as he was trying to sound.

She almost laughed though at how quickly he had turned the act on.

"How come you waited?" She played along, twirling her hair round her fingers.

"Well, don't laugh, but I was nervous." He was completely putting on his best 'bashful' performance, truly Oscar-worthy.

" _You_ were nervous?" She pursed her lips, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, I get nervous, I'm a person, Kate." He dropped the facade a little bit. "It's one thing to be all confident at work and all, but asking out a beautiful woman? That never gets any easier. Especially when they're as beautiful as you."

It was working, she felt a little heat creep into her cheeks despite herself, and looked down at the hood of the car.

Lightly, he touched his fingertips to her jawline, and she looked him in the face, her lips were slightly parted, and her smile was fading a bit.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you. I've been fighting all night not to just start babbling about how gorgeous you are, something was about to come out eventually."

Her heart was drumming in her chest, this was goddamn _working_.

"Oh." Was all she could say.

There was a small pause, and he eventually took his hand off her face and cleared his throat.

"Well yeah, that's one of my moves. Sometimes I get lucky on it." He shrugged.

She swallowed deeply, glad for the dusk as it hid the tinge in her cheeks.

"Well, you don't get any points for subtlety." She tried to joke, breaking the tension within herself.

"You're heartless." He said, leaning back on his elbow

She laughed a little and looked out back at the glowing city, wondering if something had actually just happened, and if that was such a bad thing.

* * *

 _ **Someone queue up the Simply Red.**_


	7. Better Call Jimmy

_**Better Call Jimmy**_

Sad days hit Kate like a tonne of bricks, and she was prone to them fairly often. It was always a build up of various factors, on top of just an inward feeling of dull unhappiness that she could not shake. On this particular day, this feeling was paired with an unpleasant journey to college, a failed paper, an irritating fellow student, an unpleasant journey home, and a frustrating phone call from her mother. She had been looking forward to arriving home and making herself a decent meal, but her cupboards were more empty than she had anticipated, and she added 'hungry' to the list of things wrong with her day.

Pouring her third or fourth glass of wine, emptying the bottle, she sat down at her kitchen table in front of her laptop and eyed the open word document containing her essay resubmission. So far she had one line: 'murder is bad,' a small joke to herself that wasn't getting her anywhere. Feeling like she wanted to just crawl onto the floor and stay there, she rested her head on her hand and took a long gulp of her drink.

Her phone buzzed on the table and she let out a sigh, not feeling like speaking to anyone. It was a text from Saul:

' _ **Just a heads up, I'll be late in tomorrow, in court at the asscrack of dawn.'**_

She sighed and typed back a simple. **'Okay.'**

A few seconds passed.

' _ **Everything alright there?'**_

How did he know?

' **Yeah I'm just pissed off, I have had a fucking shit day.'** She typed back. Usually he was not somebody she would vent to like that, but he did ask and she'd had quite a lot of wine.

' _ **Talk to me goose.'**_

She let out a breath and typed out her woes.

' **So I had to get up crazy early to get the bus to college because my goddamn car is till not fixed, and it was late so I was on edge and ended up squashed up against the window beside this guy the smelled like he hadn't had a shower since Woodstock. And I have the beginnings of a migraine at this point by the way. Get to college, full blown fucking killer headache, get to class, I failed my last paper. He's very disappointed. This bitch next to me would not stop going on by how well she did and how easy she finds intellectual property law.'**

She took a sip of her wine and kept typing.

' **So now I'm pissed off at myself, and her, and I have a headache. Journey back I'm standing up the whole way, my feet are killing me, chivalry was dead on that bus. I get back into my goddamn house starving, and I don't have any goddamn food. So now I'm hungry, I have made no progress on this dumb essay, and I'm tired.'**

Kate hit send with her thumb hard, even typing it out made her feel a little better, she barely thought about who was on the other end. For minute, she didn't think she was going to get any response with the amount of time it took for a reply to get through. When she did, it was disappointing.

' _ **Ah, that sucks.'**_

She made a face at her phone, it had taken him five minutes to type out two and a half words? Setting her phone down, she minimised the document, knowing she would not be getting any of that done and that she would have to request a deadline extension. Ignoring her rumbling stomach for the moment, she opened up the internet and did absolutely nothing for around an hour, until she had a knock at her door.

Frowning, she checked the time, almost 10pm, and stood cautiously. She felt the alcohol rush to her head a little, and went to the door, picking up the metal baseball bat behind it loosely.

"Who is it?" She called.

"It's the gigolo you ordered!"

Saul. Of course, it made perfect sense for her boss to be at her door late at night after a short text conversation. She set down the bat, found her keys in the bowl on her kitchen counter and opened the door, what she found was like serendipity. He was standing holding two bags of what she could immediately smell was Chinese food, and wearing a navy velour tracksuit that was stand in her mind as one of the most amusing things she'd seen him wear. To be fair though, she didn't look much better in her track shorts and stained t-shirt.

The smile that split across her face was unstoppable, and she leaned sideways on the doorframe in disbelief.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She asked tiredly, grinning. "There's no way you're this perfect."

"I had no plans, you helped me out by attending the gala and I am helping you out with several dollars worth of China Dragon's finest." He held up the bags. She could have thrown her arms round her neck and kissed him in that moment, and she was almost tipsy enough to do it. Instead, she stepped back and gestured him in.

"What are you drinking? I may have already had a bottle of wine so you're gonna have to have some spirits and catch me up." She crouched in front of her alcohol cupboard.

"Scotch on the rocks?"

"Oh yeah, I'm a 65 year old man." She said sarcastically. "No I don't have scotch."

"Jesus, what do you have then? I'm easy. Hey, where are your plates?"

"Top cupboard, next to the fridge. How about whiskey, Southern Comfort?"

"Great." He opened the containers and laid them out on the kitchen table, along with the plates while she poured his drink and dug ice out of her freezer. He couldn't help but glance at the word document open on her laptop. "Murder is bad." He read aloud. "Can't argue with that."

"Oh don't look at that shit." She said, shaking her head at herself. "I just want to pretend that I'm not in law school right now."

He followed her instructions with a small chuckle, and closed the laptop, setting it on the nearby couch instead. When he sat down, she set his drink down beside his plate, along with a glass of water on her own.

"So I'm on Southern Comfort and you're on water?"

"I have had a bottle of wine in very little time. You have to catch up, and I have to not wake up feeling like I have a truck on my head." She began to dish out the food. Everything he had bought smelled amazing, and she felt incredibly grateful towards him.

The TV droned on in the background when they started to eat, he was talking about the day he'd had in court while she was in class, saying he felt like he was back in the old days of being a public defender trying to win the jury round. She hadn't seen him do that yet, but anticipated it would have been an impressive sight.

"So, do you do this for all your employees or am I special?" She asked with small sly smile, taking a bite of some kind of saucy sweet and sour chicken. He looked at her, taking a forkful of something himself. Her cheeks were a little flushed from the wine, and she was leaning on her elbow towards him.

"Well, you _are_ special." He said with a shrug. "I might not do this for an employee, but you're my friend, right?"

"I guess so." She said, not having considered the thought much, and took a big drink of her water to wash down a mouthful of food.

"When my friend tells me she's had a bad day and she's hungry, I aim to remedy that. And when I've had the most boring-ass day of all time, I've gotta get some conversation. Now, tell me all about the girl you hate, and don't skimp on the bitchy."

Kate laughed and reiterated the story of her day again, and he actually listened, chipping in little jokes, and trying his best to make her feel better. When they'd finished their food, she was feeling significantly better, though the failed assignment was niggling at the back of her mind. She was enjoying herself though, the more whiskeys Saul had, the funnier he was frankly, and the more honest he was.

"Wait wait wait, so the guys would buy the half dollar from you for _$100_?" She repeated with a frown, pouring herself wine now.

"If we were lucky, if the guy was drunk we could knock it up as far as $300, but hey, 50 bucks for the thing was drinks for the night, right? It was worthless. Money for nothing." He shrugged, and sipped his drink.

"I can't believe you used to scam people! I'm gonna call the cops on you." She shook her head with a laugh.

"Okay Ricky Fitts, maybe I can talk down my sentence by giving you up, huh? Tell 'em where the rest of nana's stash went?"

Kate snorted out laugh, covering her mouth. "I told you I wasn't a dealer. For a short period of time, I just supplied it… And smoked it."

It was his turn to laugh. "What, like all the time?"

"No I wasn't a _stoner_ or anything, just occasionally, nothing major."

"Well aren't you full of surprises huh? Argues like a champ, former weed dealer, champion wine consumer, and cleans up like Audrey Hepburn."

"Oh, shut up." She shook her head.

"I'm serious. It felt a little weird saying it at the time, but the other night at that party, you looked incredible."

"Saul." She covered her face, blushing.

"What? Guys don't call you gorgeous all the time?"

"No! I spend most of my time in the goddamn house." She admitted with a chuckle, topping up her glass.

"Well that's a crying shame." A bigger sip. "At least some creepy bar guy isn't going to get his hands on you."

"Or any guy for that matter." She said with an edge of bitterness.

"Would you stop? If there's anything a gorgeous future lawyer doesn't need to be, it's self deprecating alright?"

She snorted again. "Future lawyer sounds like a stretch when you say it out loud."

"What?"

"I dunno, just that fucking assignment today, and just being there lately I'm feeling like… maybe I'm not cut out for it? Maybe I can't actually do it." Her tone took a sad turn.

"Hey," He put his hand on her forearm on the table instinctively. "I've seen you in action, of course you can do it."

"Maybe not Saul, maybe I'm dumber than everyone always thought I was. Y'know, all my life I've been told how smart I am, and I've believed it? But I don't think I am anymore. I'm just average, and I'm not going to get to be a great lawyer."

She looked at the ground, and ran a hand through her hair, her face pale and forlorn. Chewing on the inside of his mouth, he considered hugging her for a second, but instead opted to continue to sit awkwardly with his hand on her arm.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get so angsty on you." She said, looking at him.

"No I want you to be honest with me. If you're sad, be sad." He said.

"Can do." She laughed wryly.

There was another pause in which he wasn't sure what to say, and an idea struck him suddenly.

"I want to show you something." He said, squeezing her arm and getting up.

"What?"

"Just come on," he got up quickly, "get your shoes on, you don't have to fix your hair we're not going anywhere far."

From the door he brought her a pair of old sneakers and dropped them in front of her, and she slipped them on her feet.

He got his car keys out of the back of his pocket, and waited for her to tie her shoes.

"We're getting in the car? Are you sure you should?" She asked, looking at him seriously.

"I'm not over the limit… probably. And I feel fine anyway." He said, opening the front door and ushering her out into the night. He wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say when they got there. Kate looked at him like he was going a little mental, but went along with it and followed him to his car.

"So we're going on a car ride?" She asked. "Clear my head?"

"Nothing weird, honest." He assured her. "C'mon, it'll make you feel better."

"Okay… but if you whip it out I'm bailing." She grinned to herself, sliding in the passenger seat.

"Maybe you could consider a career in comedy if this doesn't work out." He said dryly as he got in too.

Saul was very quiet as he drove her to a part of town she hadn't been to before, it was a little run down, but not unpleasant: lots of neon lights and late night liquor stores. They were on a quiet street, and Saul pulled in outside an Asian nail bar and salon. Kate raised her eyebrow at him and he sent her a quick smile before getting out and approaching the door. She let out a sigh and got out, wondering what his point was. From his back pocket, he took his keys and unlocked the door. Instinctively, she grabbed his arm.

"What the hell? Why do you have a key for here?" Immediately she jumped to something shady.

"Don't tell anyone okay?" He said casually like they were sharing a cigarette in the bleachers.

It was strange to be in one of these places while it was empty and dark. The not unpleasant chemical smell lingered, and the massage chairs sat dormant and empty. Why he had the key was beyond her, but it felt quite naughty and slightly exhilarating to be sneaking into the place in the middle of the night. She touched a container of fake nails on the way past as he led her to the back, opening the door to a small room that was filled with boxes and such.

Frowning, she looked at the room and back at him, he was looking at her pointedly.

"Okay, I'm confused, but not feeling that much better from seeing a pantry." She said. "What's the moral of the story here?"

"You're looking at my office." He said, nodding inside.

"What?"

"This was my office, for a few years."

"But…"

"Surprised?"

Kate let out a small breath of a laugh, just picturing a desk shoved in the corner and him in one of his loud suits behind it. How did he possibly get anywhere from that.

"Yeah, I am." She admitted.

"Well that was the point in bringing you here. You have to start somewhere, you have to have these shitty days." He closed the door, and looked at her squarely. Serious. "And I know I may not be the paragon of virtue in my field, but I'm doing well, cheesey ads and all. The point is, I'm getting paid to do something I love doing, and I promise, you're going to get to do that too. You're a smart kid, you're gonna be great, and you're going to do it the right way, okay?" He put his hand on her shoulder gently. "Better than I ever did."

She'd never heard him talk like that before, so honest and sweet, it made her chest tighten, it made her feel better and she was hit by a wave of affection for him that she had not felt before. Looking him in the eye, she smiled gently, and with some awkwardness he took his hand off her shoulder.

Kate stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms round his neck tightly.

"Thank you." She said, and her breath fluttered over his ear. He didn't say anything, but he reciprocated her hug, looping his arms round her waist firmly.

It became a moment before either of them knew it was happening. In a split second, it wasn't just a friendly hug anymore. She was noticing how warm and comforting and male his body felt against hers, and how good he smelled, and how much this proximity was making her flush. Saul too, wondered if he should take his hand off where he had unintentionally put it on the bare skin of her lower back, and confirmed to himself that, yeah, she was as soft as always looked, from the feel of her skin to her breasts pressed against his chest.

Pulling back slightly, he placed a chaste kiss on her temple, and she turned her head to meet it, eyes fluttering closed. She could not say who exactly leaned in first, but the next thing she knew she was tilting her head up to kiss his lips, and he was leaning down to do the same.

This was not a moment for thinking. Both of them were caught in an enveloping sense of heat and desire. She held him tight against her, the back of her hand on the nape of his neck, as she pressed her lips against his a little harder, him catching her lower lip between his. Her heart was pounding fiercely in her chest, and she couldn't hear anything but him breathing through his nose, and the small 'mm' that inadvertently left her throat.

It was not like she thought any kiss like him would go, they moved their lips together, locking and unlocking, it was tender, and sweet, and he didn't push anything. He kissed her like they had been kissing for years, and the feeling was making her hot all over, and made her push her body as close to his as she possibly could. When their tongues touched, she immediately wanted him to grab her ass, or kiss her neck or something to move them closer to…

"Ah-" He moved away from the kiss, and loosened his grip on her but did not move away entirely. "That was- uh." He scratched the back of his head and cleared his throat.

Reality rushed back when his body heat was replaced by the enveloping cold of the empty salon. Her skin was hot, her hands were shaking a little, and her lips tingled. The little laugh that came out of her mouth was pure nerves, and embarrassment at how aroused she had got at just a kiss.

"Probably not my best idea." He seemed to say to himself more than to her, running a hand through his hair and seeming to find it difficult to make eye contact.

"Yeah, I think we just-"

"Just had a couple more drinks than we thought…" He said with an entirely faux flippant tone. "Yeah."

"Yeah." She nodded firmly, swallowing, reaching for a justification just as much as him.

There was a long silence in which neither of them spoke, he was moving his weight slightly from foot to foot, looking round the room, and she bit her lower lip awkwardly, and wondered who would speak first, and what they would say, and what she would say if she opened her mouth.

"I don't feel drunk though." She said honestly. He looked her in the eye with an expression of some inner turmoil. "I just feel like, tipsy enough to be honest and to… do what I want to do. And apparently, that was kiss you just then."

Saul cleared his throat. "So, this wasn't a taking advantage of a young girl type thing?"

"No." She firmly assured him. "You take advantage and you'll find yourself drowned in one of those little footbaths."

He laughed a little, glad she was joking to dissipate the tension of what had just happened between them. Kate hated seeing him look like he felt guilty, as if he thought he wasn't desirable to her or something, because he was, he so was, and she was a grown woman. Increasingly her thoughts were running from: 'gee, that was embarrassing' to, 'I really just want to fuck this guy.'

But she had to remind herself, this was her boss, and an established Albuquerque lawyer. Sleeping with him would serve not only to potentially damage the reputation she did not even have yet, but would definitely spoil the friendship they had been building.

Still, though, in that moment, the image of taking off his belt and wrapping her legs round his waist was hard to shake.

"I'm not going to let this get weird." She said. "How about we go back to your place and get drunk and watch some TV, and talk at length about what this means for our relationship?"

He frowned a bit.

"Kidding, kidding." She assured.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I bet you have a more impressive liquor cabinet than me."

"Okay, just try and keep your hands off, Dent. Clearly I'm irresistable to you."

"Of course." She replied, and followed him out of the salon.

Saul's house had elements of exactly what she would expect, while still being much more tame than she had thought. It was for one thing, huge, which she had seen coming. As soon as they got into the quieter part of town on the outskirts, and the houses started to become more of a modern design, flat roofs and triple driveways, she was reminded of how much cash he actually brought in.

The place was open plan, and cool, and everything about it seemed quality from the shiny tile on the floor to the textured cream wallpaper. Clearly, the decoration was not his design, as it was all very classy and understated. The furniture though was all Saul, the big red leather suite and the solid marble coffee table. Framed on the wall were a couple of paintings, and a 'Better Call Saul' bus stop ad. She had laughed when she saw it, and he told her it was the first ever one and he hung it with pride.

While he busied himself in the drinks cabinet, she looked over the framed photographs on a mahogany unit on the other side of the room. They were personal, clearly family who she of course didn't recognize. She did not bring up how he had significantly longer hair on a lot of them, and even when it wasn't longer, there was definitely _more_. There was one where he looked particularly happy, it could have only been a few years ago, holding his degree certificate to face the camera, a slightly older man with combed back greying hair's arm round his shoulders. A brother? She had to smile to herself, it was a very sweet picture.

She did not renege on promise to get drunk with him, putting the 'salon incident' as she was now referring to it aside, it was soon 1am, and they were sitting in his living room on the floor at either side of his coffee table while he tried his best to teach her poker, and she kept making him play Snap. In the background, he had his iPod on shuffle plugged into some large speakers under the unit, and 70's rock that she secretly loved came up a lot.

"Tell me another story, something wild about you 'cuz I know there's more where that came from." He took a big gulp of beer. "You ever get arrested?"

He did not expect the sheepish look to cross her face.

"Oh my god! You have been arrested! What did you do?" He leaned forward like a kid waiting to hear a cool story, and she laughed, throwing her head back.

"It's really not that big a deal, I was out the next morning."

"I wanna know _everything_."

"Okay, I used to have slight problem with my _temper_. Let's say I was passionately argumentative. Anyway, I was at this bar with my friend and a guy grabs her ass. I'm sitting down at our table, mind you, so I look over. She says something to him, I think she's got it handled. He was clearly a creep, but whatever right? It happens." She shrugged. "The next second this fucking guy grabs her by the neck and pins her against the bar. I didn't react kindly."

"What did you do?" He was practically lying on the table he was leaning so far forward on his elbows.

"I… Defended my friend."

"C'mon, you can't hold out like that now."

"Okay," She giggled a bit, sipping her rum and coke. "I tore over and got him by the shirt and told him that if he ever touched my friend again I would rip his dick off and shove it up his ass. He didn't like that, calls me a cunt, so, I dead-legged him in the back of the knees, and I just started punching him in the face until someone pulled me off. Broke his nose."

"Holy shit."

"Yeah. I'm not a violent person, Saul, honestly. I just have a predisposition to lose my temper." She took another drink. "Occasionally."

He swallowed his beer, shaking his head.

"Call me Jimmy."

"What?"

"Jimmy, s'my name. It's weird to be called Saul by… You."

"So Saul Goodman is just…"

"A little added pezazz, yeah, only downside is I can't get into country clubs." And he did one of his dirty little laughs that made her laugh too.

"Okay, Jimmy, I'll have to get used to that."

There was a brief quiet in which it felt strange to be calling him by another name, and he mentally relished the name coming from her mouth.

"You look like a Jimmy."

* * *

 **Big sections of this were in desperate need of beta-fying I just didn't notice. Apologies. Terribly unprofessional of me madams and sirs.**


	8. Morning

**_Morning_**

It had been a long, long time since Jimmy had stayed up until almost 4am just talking to someone, but that's what the two of them did. She talked to him about her family, about how much she'd loved her grandma and how she loved her mother but she could be incredibly pushy. He told her that he loved his mom too, and that she shouldn't be too angry with hers because she would miss her when she was gone. They talked about movies and TV too, and got into an insanely long debate about the relationships in Reservoir Dogs. At one point, she'd asked him if he had been attracted to her when they first met, and he lied and said 'not really.' Mostly, they laughed, about something and nothing, and for the first time in a long time, he really felt like Jimmy McGill.

They'd both ended up on the L shaped couch, still chatting away, his responses got shorter and quieter until he noticed she had fallen asleep on her side, hand under her cheek and legs bent. He'd swallowed deeply as he looked at her, peaceful and content on his couch. It was striking him just how much he really, really liked it. All night, he kept replaying that kiss in his head, the thought of it hotter than the thought of some sexual experiences he'd had. They'd mutually and quietly decided to move on from it, but Jimmy looked at her lips as she slept, and wasn't sure if he could keep his sanity and never kiss her again.

Like the knight in shining armor he was, he lifted her off the couch, letting out a grunt: she was heavier than she looked. She stirred and turned her head into his chest, but she'd clearly had enough alcohol to keep her asleep. Jimmy set her down on his bed, and pulled the covers from under her awkwardly, so he could tug them over her legs. She settled herself into his pillow, and let a long breath out of her nose.

With a sigh, he picked up a pillow from the other side of his bed, and left the room for the couch, the thought of how good she looked in his bed lingering in his mind.

Kate awoke in fresh smelling white sheets and stretched out her arms and legs. Her limbs still had that residual dullness from the heavy drinking of the night before, her tongue still held the taste of a mix of alcohol, and her breath was stale. She was thankful, (as it occurred to her whose bed she was in), that she woke up alone. Having sex with him would not have been the worst thing, but having sex with him as drunk as she had got the night before would just have been embarrassing for her. The events of the night filtered through slowly and she covered her face with her hands: it had been so much fun, it had been so natural. Shit, she liked him too much.

Jimmy, not Saul. That was going to get confusing.

She sat up fully and looked round his bedroom. Like the rest of the house, Jimmy's bedroom was neat and sleek and spotless. Kate knew he'd had no hand in its decoration, and he most certainly had a cleaning lady. This room was huge as well, and Kate wasn't sure she'd like to have such a big room to herself.

Stretching again, she shuffled herself out of bed, head aching a little at the movement, and adjusted the hem of her shirt to ensure her belly was covered. She could faintly hear talk radio downstairs and was glad he hadn't left her in the house.

She padded over to the en suite bathroom to find some mouthwash. It felt a little childishly naughty to be looking through Jimmy's medicine cabinet, but there was nothing incriminating apart from a little Rogaine and some painkillers that probably weren't his prescription. She didn't pay too much attention to the labels. What she did find was a brand new toothbrush still in its plastic box and gratefully ripped it open to get rid of the nasty taste in her mouth.

It occurred to her as she vigorously scrubbed her back molars that she wasn't looking her best and had no way of correcting that. The residue of the day before's makeup had smudged around her eyes, and her skin looked pretty dry, especially around her nose. She groaned and spat out some foam before running the tap to swill out her mouth and wash her face. Her hair had seen better days too, messy and sticking out at odd angles. She ran her hands over it and made a face at herself. There wasn't much more she could do.

Yawning widely she left the bedroom and made down the polished wood stairs towards the source of the radio chatter. The floor was chilly under her feet as she stepped into the open and bright living room. She smiled slightly, she'd forgotten about all his bookshelves and the vast array of DVD's that stood on the shelves around the TV. Even knowing him as she did, it was still odd to picture him sitting down calmly and doing something as normal as watching a film or reading a book. Though, as she stepped into the adjoining kitchen, that was pretty much what she found.

Jimmy was sitting at the table with a large newspaper in front of him and a steaming mug in his hand. He wore a white t-shirt and jeans, and his brow was furrowed, it was a terribly domestic picture that would have amused Kate if it weren't for the fact she enjoyed it so much. The smell of coffee hitting her nose almost made her salivate as well, and in that moment she was incredibly glad he'd brought her to his place. This was much better than waking up alone and hungover.

"She awakes, and bright and early as 11am, just glad you're still alive." He looked up at her as she messed with the hem of her t-shirt and sat herself in the chair across from him.

"Yep... Thanks for that by the way." She smiled slightly embarrassedly and crossed her legs. He picked up the half-full coffee pot from the middle of the table and poured her a mug, sliding it across. "Putting me to bed and all. That was too nice."

"Yeah well, I'm a nice guy." He shrugged with mock humility. She chuckled and picked up the cup.

"Mmm, thank you." She moved the sugar bowl to her and began spooning in copious amounts of the stuff. He watched her as she brought it to her lips and inhaled deeply before taking a sip. She felt approximately 1000% better for having a sweet caffeine-filled drink.

"Fuck me, that is good." She sighed into the cup. He laughed slightly.

"You've got a foul mouth on you when you've just woken up, then." He said dryly.

"I'm sorry, I forgot how much you hate swearing." She rolled her eyes, smiling a little. He continued to read the paper and drink his coffee and Kate faintly listened to the radio, tapping her fingers on her cup. It wasn't an awkward silence, but she did feel she needed to say something.

"Seriously, thank you for last night. I was feeling really crappy, and you helped a lot." She said finally. He looked up at her. It occurred to her that he looked incredibly cute this time in the morning, and she made herself shake the thought. Particularly the word 'cute.'

"Wasn't totally selfless." He joked gently. "Had a lot of fun, particularly the salon part."

"Oh, so we're talking about that are we?" She asked as he stood up with his mug, went over to cupboard and took out a loaf of bread.

"Well we don't _have to_." He said quietly, smirking a little, putting a couple of slices of bread into the toaster. "I think what happened kind of speaks for itself, right?"

"Does it? What does it say?" She smiled a bit, quite enjoying this back and forth. He turned to face her, leaning on the counter and tapping his fingers on the surface.

"I like you." He said simply and took a sip of his drink. She looked at him for a second, and he looked back, and they were just looking at each other. Jesus, it was all getting too Notting Hill. The sound of the toast popping broke the moment that had become a little tense without either realising, and Jimmy turned round a bit too quickly to take it out.

"I don't feel like eating." Katherine said finally, trying to keep herself sounding natural. She didn't feel like she normally did, it felt like something was happening. It felt like being in a room with someone who you're really attracted to and they're really attracted to you and you've just realised it about the other but you have to be normal about it.

"You've got to have something or you'll be sick. I've burnt it so it will settle your stomach." He got to buttering the slices. He didn't sound normal to her either.

It was all incredibly sweet of him, to look after her, to make sure she was happy and well and fed. She liked to think she knew Jimmy increasingly well, all the different types of him. The past 24 hours were new, though. It was further from his public persona, Saul, it was the toast-making caring _Jimmy_. But then again, she liked every him really, because he was always him, he was always handsome and good at his job and much, much more than anybody thought.

"I feel fine." She said what she hoped was firmly. He ignored her, keeping his back to her when he noticed the flutter in her voice and began to feel a little nervous at where this was going.

"Jimmy, I..." For once, she had absolutely no idea what to say, she didn't even know what she _wanted_ to say or do. But she knew she was standing up and walking over to him, and putting her hand on his shoulder blade so he turned around.

He looked down at her with an expression she couldn't quite place. Slightly quizzical, and maybe a little nervous.

Okay, she was standing too close to him, she thought. They were almost touching.

But, because she just couldn't stop herself, she kissed him soundly, eyes closed, one hand just resting on his shoulder and the other limply at her side. He didn't react for what felt like a long time and she began to pull away, but his hand found it's way to the side of her neck and he pressed back firmly. She parted her lips and deepened the kiss, stepping closer to him as his other hand found her lower back and pulled her to him. Kissing Jimmy felt good, and that was enough for the moment, she didn't want to think about anything else.

When eventually she pulled away for breath, she pursed her lips, feeling slightly embarrassed as was a rare feeling for her. He didn't let go of her, his lips had more colour and his eyes glazed slightly. He looked uncharacteristically flustered.

"Are you still drunk?" He asked quietly, though his humour didn't have any of its bite.

"No." She said and moved in to kiss him again, because she wanted to.

"Kate I don't think you want to do this…" He said with a small laugh in his chest.

"I think I do." She said, her fuzzy head from the kiss becoming clearer now. That urge to kiss him didn't go away though, it had flared up arousal in her deeply and she didn't care to be embarrassed.

"Not to sound too modest but, you can do a lot better than a divorced old guy you work for." He still spoke quietly. She closed her eyes, and let out a short, wry laugh.

"Are you fucking joking?" She raised her eyebrow, and he looked slightly confused. "Firstly, Jimmy, I'm not an impressionable teenager you've lured to your house. Secondly, you are by no means _old_ , you're just _older_ than me. And, by the way, that didn't stop you last time we were in a similar position." She stepped back out of his reach.

"Look-" He began, as if reasoning with a stubborn client but she cut him off.

"Thirdly, and this is probably my most important point. You are very attractive and I would want you no matter what age I was." She spoke lowly, and though he looked at her when she spoke as if swayed, he still appeared reluctant. "And my last point comes in the form of a question, and this is my most important point when I think about it:"

He looked her dead in the eye now as her fingers found the front of his t-shirt, though standing at arms reach.

"Have you always been such a pussy?" She almost whispered. His brow furrowed and that flustered look ebbed away, replaced with an amused shock.

"Pardon me?" He asked and she smirked inwardly.

"Well, here I stand, in your house, kissing you and telling you that I want you and you're rejecting it on the grounds of thinking you're not good enough." She cocked her head to the side and licked her lips, and she saw him look. "Are you shyer than I thought? Or do you just not want to find out what it feels like to fuck me?" She resisted the urge to press her body against him and he looked at her for a moment. Even she could almost not believe the words coming out of her own mouth, and for a second she wondered if she had pushed it too far.

She knew his look though, she could see the lust; she knew what buttons to press. Before she knew what was happening his lips were on hers again and she was turned so her butt pressed into the counter quite hard.

"Mm." She hummed into his insistent kiss, feeling him grip her hips and lift her slightly to sit on the cold surface. She looped her arms round his neck and pulled him as close as she could, wrapping her legs around his sturdy waist. He pulled away from her lips, and for a second she was worried he'd reconsidered again, but his lips were immediately on the side of her face, kissing down her jawline and neck.

She felt that familiar tingle, all over her skin and concentrating itself between her thighs. His hands moved up under the t-shirt slowly, his fingertips grazing the skin of her stomach and making her quiver slightly. She felt goosebumps appear where he touched, and willed him to just continue a few inches so he would touch her breasts. He didn't though, his fingers moved down again to the waistband of her leggings, and then over the front of the thin material. Even that was enough to make her gasp slightly while he continued to work his lips on her neck. She held on to the sides of his face and pulled his lips back to hers, gripping him tighter with her legs and pulling him close to press her core against him. He was hard already, and that turned her on immensely. He suddenly pulled away, looking at her breathlessly.

"Come on," he said quietly, voice gruff, taking her hand and guiding her off the counter and over to the couch, keeping her facing him and continuing to kiss her on the way. He sat on the couch and she went with him, positioning herself so she was straddling his lap. She could really feel his cock through his jeans now, pressed against her, and the knowledge of his own desire just fanned the flame of her own.

His hands found the hem of the shirt she wore and he quickly pulled it over her head, messing up her hair further, before tossing it somewhere. She felt herself flush as he

admired her body for a moment, her breasts and stomach in the unforgiving morning light of the room. Kate reached behind her, and quickly undid the clasp of her bra, slipping it off her arms and dumping it over the back of the couch.

"Disappointed?" She said quietly with a nervous laugh. He looked up at her face, amusement barely on his.

"You're fucking gorgeous." He pulled her closer with his hands splayed on her back and peppered kisses between her ribcage, and then over each breast.

"Jimmy..." She whispered, running her fingers through his hair. It was lovely, his hair, especially when he let it get a bit longer than usual like it was now. When his mouth was around her nipple, she couldn't help but let out a moan and writhed on him slightly, the friction increasing her arousal even more. She never thought she had particularly sensitive nipples, but everything seemed heightened this time, everything felt a bit better. He sucked lightly, and swirled his tongue round, looking up at her pleasured expression.

As much as she enjoyed it, it occurred to her that she wasn't doing much to help the effort and so leaned down to kiss him hungrily again, running her hands down the front of his shirt and then underneath, trailing her fingers through the light hair on his chest and then down his stomach. She let her tongue explore the inside of his mouth, she continued down, going until I found something satisfyingly hard and squeezed through the fabric. His breath caught in his throat as she dragged her palm up the length of him, gently teasing the tip through the fabric before doing it again. His breathing became more laboured as he pressed his forehead against her own, the kisses becoming longer and more leisurely. It made her feel good that she could turn him on as much as he did to her, and smiled slightly as she began to slip her hand in the waistband and over his boxers.

"Wait." He said, gently gripping her wrist. She looked at him questioningly as he ran his hands up her thighs and to her leggings again, where he tugged on the hem. They weren't really in a position that made removing them easy, so he shifted his hips to lay her back on the couch, and hovered between her legs, watching her expression as he pulled her pants and underwear down over her knees and off, making sure it was definitely what she wanted.

Kate felt very exposed as she lay bottomless under him. He could have buried his face between her legs and not come up until she had cum several times, but he was too excited, and had to be a little selfish.

It was clear that they were on the same page when her hands flew to his jeans again and she made short work of opening the button and the zip, both their breathing picking up in anticipation. For a moment, their eyes met and his predatory expression made her even more excited to the point of nerves. His hands were either side of her head and he brought his lips onto hers again, more desperately now, laying his weight on her and winding his fingers into her hair. She wrapped an arm round his shoulders and put her free hand between them to push down his jeans and boxers. Okay, it was as big as he acted like it was. She almost commented, but the look on her face puffed up his ego enough. Kate stroked his dick once, urging him toward her. He instinctively pressed against her, the tip just barely making contact with her wet folds.

"Jesus," he hissed through his teeth. Clearly he hadn't anticipated his effect on her. He kept his fingers in her hair, and his lips hovered above hers, their noses touching. "What do you want?" He asked lowly. God, his voice. She wasn't sure if he was teasing her or if he was actually looking for an answer.

"I want," she softly kissed his lips, feeling her fingers shaking slightly, "I want you to _fuck me_." She whispered, and heard a low noise in his chest at her words. He rocked his hips against her and the first few inches slid in easily, and she whimpered as he pulled back and then pushed in further.

"Fuck, you're tight." He said under his breath, before burying himself fully into her with a final thrust. She arched her back against him and let out a noise of pleasure. He stayed frozen for a moment and rested his head in the crook of her neck, panting. She ground up against him hard and he started to move. It was ever so slightly uncomfortable as felt herself stretching to accommodate him, but the feeling ebbed away to an intense fullness, and pleasure.

He guided himself in long and careful strokes, picking up a rhythm that made her moan and gasp, and grip him tighter. He ran his hand up her neck and cupped the side of her face, rubbing his thumb against her lower lip before kissing her hard and pushing his tongue in drinking in her moans as he picked up the pace. His other hand moved across her body, squeezing her breast gently.

She swore her vision began to blur slightly as he shifted his angle so he could push into her more insistently. He lifted her thigh higher to his waist so he could be as deeply in her as possible.

"Ah, fuck." He grunted, and bit his lower lip. The look of him made her wetter, and made his movement in and out of her easy.

Resting his weight on his forearm next to her head, and slowing his movement a little, he brought the fingers of his other hand between her legs where they met, pressing on her sensitive clit and moving slow intense circles.

"Oh, God." She moaned. She couldn't stop the sounds coming out of her mouth as he continued to drive into her, groaning and grunting from effort and pleasure.

She felt better than he could have ever imagined, and he had imagined it. Hot and soft, and snug, he never wanted to stop. Hitching her leg even higher so her knee pressed against into the couch, he swore and touched her hair with his supporting hand.

"Shit..." It was almost too good, the pressure building up until it was hardly bearable and she knew that he knew exactly what he was doing. When he rammed in again, he hit the right spot but only harder than before, and she bit down on her lip and closed her eyes.

His eyes stayed focussed on her face, on the desire washing through her that he was

responsible for. _He_ was doing this to her, _he_ was giving her this pleasure and he loved that fact.

Their tempo increased, building to its end and all his control fell away as he pounded feverishly into her, a layer of sweat building on his forehead, his breathing harsh and ragged as he tried to hold on for just a bit longer. She was close and he took his hand off her clit, positioning himself so he could keep driving into her. He didn't want it to end so quickly; he wanted at least to make her cum. He closed his eyes with concentration. She felt so good, everything about her, he could actually _feel_ the sound of her increasingly loud moans going through him and heading to his cock like a lit fuse.

Jimmy was overjoyed when he felt her stiffen underneath him, every part of her. Her climax gripped her as she threw back her head and moaned out his name, her brow furrowing with the intensity as she dug her nails into the arm of the couch behind her head. The feeling of her clenching and unclenching around him was his undoing and the look of her pleasure, head thrown back, breasts quivering in front of him. He spilled himself into her without thought, his breath hitching in his throat and a low groan escaping his lips as his hips jerked and he shuddered against her quivering body. He held tightly onto her as he slowed his movements to a halt and let his body collapse onto her, his head on her rapidly rising and falling chest.

They didn't let go of each other for a long time, allowing themselves to get their breath back and mutually calm down. The two were sticky and breathing heavily, Kate was looking at the light on the ceiling above her, but wasn't thinking about anything apart from the throbbing between her legs and Jimmy's breath breezing over her breast.

Eventually, he pulled out of her with a small noise and sat up on his knees to pull up his jeans and fasten them. She let out a long breath and was aware of how she was completely bare in front of him while he was fully clothed; she shuffled onto her bottom, and closed her knees. Everything was quiet and so every noise was louder. When he looked at her, they both laughed breathlessly as if in disbelief at what had just happened.

"Well that's one way to spend a morning." He said, reaching off the couch to pick up the shirt she had been wearing and handing it to her. She smiled and pulled it over her head, feeling between her legs ache.

"Not what I was expecting." She said honestly and found her underwear on the floor, pulling them on as he sat back down and ran a hand through his messy hair, letting out a 'phew,' still sweaty browed and breathless.

"It was good though... For me anyway." She said.

"If you thought that wasn't good for me then you can't have been paying attention." He said gruffly with a slight smile. "I would have liked it to have been a bit longer but it's been you know... A fucking while and look at you, for Christ's sake."

He made her blush slightly.

"Well, you certainly got me to a... natural stopping point." She shrugged a bit, and sat on her knees beside him. He looked faintly amused but overall utterly satisfied, content even. She liked bringing that out in him.

In honesty, he was sitting there in disbelief in what they had just done, and how much she had seemed to have liked it, feeling tired and spent.

"Besides, it's Saturday isn't it? Which means we have plenty of time to rectify any mistakes you think you might have made." She lowered her voice to a silky tone and shuffled towards him. He looked her up and down, wondering if he should do the right thing and protest again.

Kate knelt there though on the cushion beside him, her abdomen showing, and her silky legs tucked under her. She had a flush in her cheeks from the orgasm, and her hair was skewed. There was no way he had enough willpower to say no to that.

"You're saying you want to do that again?" He asked with slight disbelief. Kate almost giggled, putting a hand on his back, and resting her chin on his shoulder.

"And again, and again, and again…"

Pushing down the urge to nod and pant with his tongue out like a little puppy, he sat back on and couch, resting his head.

"I don't know; I'm a little bit tired." He shrugged, and she could tell he was trying to rile her up. She raised her eyebrow, fighting back the slight smile slipping onto her lips.

"Oh, okay then." She got off the couch and made her way over to the stairs swiftly.

"Where are you going?" He asked, dropping his bored facade immediately as she started up the steps, his head peeking over the back of the couch.

"Well if you're not going to deal with me I guess I'll have to help myself out." She shrugged, continuing up and pulling her shirt off her as she went, dropping it over the banister. "Does your shower have a massage setting?"

He didn't answer her but she smirked to herself when she heard his footsteps quickly behind her.

* * *

 **Finally a bit of fucking, right!? Why else did you come here!?**


	9. Sunday

**Sunday**

After the second time, Kate had briefly worried that Jimmy would have a crisis of conscience, would decide that this was wrong and he didn't want to do it anymore. The thoughts had crossed his mind, briefly, but after she'd let him touch her once, let him kiss her and fuck her and hold her, there was no way that he could stop.

It led to them spending the weekend in a haze of sex and junk food and alcohol, and more sex. For her, it was strange, feeling as if a switch had been turned on from the first time he was inside her: why had they not been doing this from the very second they met? Why did they ever think it would have been a bad idea? Kate had not for a long time just indulged her impulses when they struck, but she allowed herself that Saturday, Sunday and then suddenly he was taking Monday off just to stay in the house with her. No part of her regretted anything they were doing for a second, and it was exhilarating and a little bit scary that he had brought it back out in her.

It was all just too much fun. Even drunk, sloppy sex with Jimmy was still better than most sex she had with past boyfriends.

Sunday night bars were not lively by any stretch of the imagination, but they had managed to find one they liked and get good and drunk. They'd stumbled into the house, all hands everywhere, and mouths, and shamelessly grinding against each other because they couldn't quite wait to get their clothes off. She growled when she got frustrated with the buttons off his shirt and he laughed, she didn't quite have enough hand eye co-ordination at the time but he still got her top and bra off like it was second nature.

He'd ended up lifting her up and letting her put her legs round his waist, and tripped over the couch so they ended up tumbling to the floor, banging elbows and tail-bones. Kate laughed hysterically while he groaned in pain, but shut up when she kissed him like she never wanted to kiss anyone else again.

When she'd got his trousers off she had been briefly worried that he might have had too much to drink, but no, as always, he didn't let her down on that front either.

It was quick and fun, and even more talkative than usual, both of them being honest about exactly how they wanted each other, and how much fun they were having.

They woke up in Jimmy's bed, both naked, Kate had her head on his chest, and when she blinked her eyes open and moved her head a little her cheek was sweating where it was in contact with his skin. She wrinkled her nose, and sat her head up fully.

He was still fast asleep, breathing steadily through his nose; she rested her chin on his chest and looked at him, smiling slightly at the small frown in his forehead and wondering what he was dreaming about. Jimmy's arm was draped loosely around her waist still, and his other hand was resting on his chest.

She gently ran a fingertip over the vein back of his hand, but he didn't stir. Kate always had a thing for nice hands, and his were great, she thought as she cocked her head and traced his skin gently. The more awake she became the more she began to feel that familiar hangover ache, not too severe, just a gentle dullness in her limbs that told her she ingested a ridiculous amount of chemicals the night before.

Jimmy clearly was not for waking up and she wasn't going to force him, it was Sunday after all, she cocked her neck to look at his watch: 8:30am. He could get away with another couple of hours, easy, and she unstuck herself from his body, his arm slipping off her, to take a shower.

It was a warm day, as it always was, and she didn't bother covering herself as she padded across the wood floor to the adjoining bathroom naked. Sunday morning quiet like that was something she always enjoyed, and there was no street noise or adjoined neighbours at Jimmy's house. She stretched out her arms, felt the throbbing ache between her legs and the emerging headache in her left temple. It wasn't awful, and she knew the hot water would make everything feel better.

Only when she worked out the nozzles on the shower and stepped under the hot stream did she start eyeing the various soaps and shampoos on the shelves, a ridiculous amount of them, all designer and overpriced in black bottles, she smiled to herself and experimentally opened one of the bottles of shower gel. It was pleasant and incredibly male, and she recognized it as something she had smelled on his skin before, through the ridiculous amount of aftershave he was always partial to.

She washed herself with his shower gel, leaving her hair as it was. Kate took down the shower head to clean between her legs thoroughly and thought about how much fun they had had that night before, (and reminded herself to take her pill). It was strange how quickly their dynamic had changed, and she couldn't help but compare their relationship to, well, _relationships_ she'd had in the past. Had anybody ever made her laugh like him? Had she ever been so relaxed with someone like this? She didn't think so, and that was odd.

When she emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, wrapped in one of his decadent, fluffy, purple towels, he was just waking up, looking slightly disoriented as he looked over at her, running a hand through his messy hair and sitting up on his elbows a little.

"I could get used to seeing that in a morning." The mixture of alcohol and (relatively) early morning made his already gravelly voice even rougher, she smiled to herself, leaning back on the bathroom door.

Jimmy wasn't lying either, her standing there in his towel with her skin glistening and the smell of his soap on her, smiling and biting her lip a little was an image he was sure he could never get sick of seeing. He had to admit to himself that her being all young and pure and holy turned him on much more than it probably should have, especially considering that the purity elements were entirely his own mental invention. A very primal part of him relished the idea of taking her, of laying claim to her, but so much more of him just made her want to feel _good_. He wanted to show her, in whatever way he could that he deserved her, and to thank her for making him feel good too. In his heart of hearts he knew he didn't really want to corrupt her, even if his dick kind of did.

"Get your ass in this bed before I call in sick tomorrow too." He pulled back the covers next to him and she chuckled and did what he said. "Don't move, okay? I plan to make out for several hours _after_ I've brushed my teeth."

When he slipped out of bed and she slipped in, she checked out his faded gingham boxers, that were still fitting him pretty well.

"You know, I think you might have an even cuter butt than me." She said as he disappeared into the bathroom.

"Impossible." He called back, and she could hear the smirk in his voice.

"I dunno, it's pretty nice." She made sure she was dried off fully before removing the towel and dumping it on the floor, enjoying the feel of his sheets on her bare skin.

"Nah, I'm getting to know yours pretty well, and trust me," he leaned on the bathroom door, toothbrush in his mouth, "I could spend weeks with my face in there."

"Jesus." She laughed, finding her phone on the night-stand. He went back into the bathroom and she heard him spit into the sink and the water run.

Jimmy looked great in the morning, all pink nosed and hair moved out of his face. As much as she enjoyed his Saul affectations, she had to admit that she enjoyed him more without them. While she lounged in his bed, Jimmy considered himself in the mirror: god, he'd put on some weight in recent years. Did she mind? Did she secretly find it gross? He couldn't help but frown a little bit and his reflection. He'd always been broad, but he was really pushing the definition.

"Have you forgotten about making out because I'm still down for it!" She called, and the thoughts slipped from his mind at the sound of her voice.

When he re-entered the bedroom, she was laying on her side, arm propping up her head and doing something on her phone. It only took being out of the room for a minute to be struck by how pretty she was when he came back in. Part of him was still waiting for the penny to drop, for her to realise she had made a mistake and leave and never come back. But she looked up at him and smiled, seeming quite content to lie in his bed, and he was more than happy for her to stay there as long as she wanted.

He got back in bed languidly, and she immediately moved against him, putting a hand on his cheek and kissing him softly. Jimmy slid his hands into her hair, and breathed in the smell of her, and enjoyed the feeling of her bare breasts pressed heavy against his chest. The kiss lasted until they had to part for breath, and they both let out a little breathless laugh when they did.

Easing himself over her, she parted her legs and brought them up against his waist, the two kissing again deeply and a little more wetly. She reached between them to experimentally palm the bulge in his boxers, and he was already, as always, delightfully hard for her. They both took them off under the sheets, and he repositioned himself above her, kissing down her neck and shoulder, wanting to kiss every inch of her skin once he had started. He slowly moved a hand up her inner thigh, and just ran his fingertips along her folds, just enough to make her shudder and for him to know if she was ready.

Lips still connected to her neck and her hands in his hair, he let out a little noise from his throat at how wet she had got and pulled away from her neck. He kissed her a little harder on the lips, and took his cock in his hand, guiding himself to her opening, and pushing in just slightly.

"Jimmy," she whispered, shaky voiced. Over the weekend there had been a couple of slip ups where she had called him 'Saul,' but she was getting used to it now. Hearing her moan out _his_ name while easing his cock in her felt unbelievably gratifying, and soon he pushed all the way in and began to work up a rhythm, anything to make her keep saying it.

God, being inside her felt so good. Due in part because she seemed to enjoy it as much as him. He knew just the right way to adjust his hips to make her hold onto him tighter, and she knew just the right words to whisper in his ear to make him groan and close his eyes and grit his teeth.

Just when they had reached a tempo and he thought he couldn't get any more worked up, she said: "Fuck me harder, Jimmy," and he swelled even harder inside her and swore in her ear. He of course, responded in kind, taking his hands to grip her hips, and plunging himself even further into her with force. "Mmm, yeah, that's it." She nibbled his earlobe, bringing up her hips to meet his every thrust and raising her head to kiss and bite his shoulder wetly.

He was being forceful but slow, allowing her to grind her clit up against him and making sure she was getting as much out of it as him. It was an early morning type of fuck, they weren't desperately trying to work off tension and cum, they were taking their time, and it felt amazing. Jimmy's large hand held the side of her head, and his thumb just touched her bottom lip before he took it between his own and let her moan against his mouth. She closed her eyes focussed on only the feeling of it all, every stroke, and when he hit just the right spot inside her at just the right force, slightly hurting and making her hips jerk, she cried out, and closed her eyes tightly, nails digging into his back.

"Oh Jesus, sorry." He started to pull out, horribly embarrassed that he had hurt her.

"No, no, no, no." She shook her head, laughing a little breathlessly with delight,holding onto him tightly. "Do it again Jimmy, do it again. Feels good." She pulled him down into a hard, deep kiss, immediately teasing his tongue with her own, before pulling away with a bite to his lip, a little noise escaped his throat when their mouths parted.

"Are you su-"

"Yesssss…." Running her fingertips down his chest, over his nipples, down his abs, his muscles quivered under her touch, and she leaned up on her elbows to kiss the side of his neck. She ran her fingers ran through the light hairs leading down to where he was still half-sheathed inside her. Where he wasn't, she swiftly took him in her hand, and he grunted at the feel of her soft hand. "Please." She wriggled her hips in a slow rhythm, guiding him with her hand. He couldn't deny her, the feeling was too pleasurable, and he leaned down on his elbows, and continued to push himself into her, trying to replicate what she had done before, to which she moaned, and pulled him closer.

"God," He moaned particularly loudly, feeling the building heat low. "You feel so good."

"Mmm," She bit her lip and tipped her head back; she loved his voice. "Keep talking." It was building for her too, that intense heat and wetness, making it easy to slide in and out of her.

"Are you close, huh? Are you gonna come for me?" He picked up the pace, once again absolutely needing to feel her finish first. "Don't get too worn out," he palmed her breast and ran his thumb over the nipple, "'Cuz when we're done I'm flipping you over and eating your pussy 'til you can't walk."

"Oh my god." She whimpered, and he knew it worked because she clenched around him and scratched his back.

Kate knew she couldn't handle much more, feeling totally and repeatedly filled by his cock, the angle hitting her clit just right and the sound of his raspy voice reverberating through her. It was all too good, moaning and sweating together in his bed. Suddenly, the image of them fucking on his desk while he wore one of his suits flashed into her mind, and she physically convulsed again at the thought.

"Jesus, Jesus Christ." He couldn't help the swears and noises coming out of his mouth, head hanging next to hers.

"Come on, do it baby, come, come in me." Kate moaned obscenely, holding his shoulders and tightening her legs around him. "I love it."

"Fuck, fuck," he started to spill inside her, and he was momentarily mortified that she hadn't finished, but he felt it, felt the spasming around his dick, she wrapped her arm round his shoulders and said his name over and over, as her body tensed and she threw her head back. His eyes squeezed shut as his hips jerked their last, punctured with his loud groans that he couldn't help each time he spurted deep in her.

Jimmy shuddered, arms shaking and then failing to keep him up, easing onto her chest. They lay there a second, getting their breath back and blinking away that haze. Eventually, he sat his head up, chin resting between her breasts and smiling a little bit. She had to laugh at how adorable he was with his sweaty brow and flushed cheeks, still breathing heavily.

"I think we should get married." He said, and she laughed properly then.

"You think?" She humoured.

"At least try it out, y'know? I could definitely do that every day for the rest of my life." He peeled himself off her and settled himself beside her in the bed, just tugging the sheet up to his waist lazily.

"Can I have some time to think about it?" She grinned, leaning on her side, tugging the sheet over her chest.

"I guess, but I'm a pretty well sought after bachelor so I wouldn't take too long." He said, and ran a hand through his hair, leaning back against the headboard.

Kate considered him for a moment, and sat up more fully.

"I have to go home today." She said.

"Why?" He asked a little more quickly and desperately than he meant to.

"Um, clean clothes?" She chuckled. "Underwear?"

"Oh yeah, all that." He smirked a bit. "Are you sure you can't just walk around naked? You know, free? No judgement in this house. Or just stay in bed."

"As much as that is an attractive proposition, John, Yoko has to get herself a fresh pair of jeans." She found her phone and lit up the screen, it was trucking on 10% battery. "And plug in my phone, and go grocery shopping."

"Okay, okay, you're right." He held up his hands. "But if I drive you home, you're uh-" He wasn't thinking about where his sentence was going until he said it. "Will that be it? This, I mean?" He gestured between the two of them.

Wow, he looked genuinely bashful and a little embarrassed, and couldn't really seem to make eye contact with her. She felt her chest ache a little bit for him, and fought off the wide smile that came from the fact that he clearly wanted her around. Kate reached over and held his hand.

"No that will not be it, if you don't want it to be." She said softly, gently running her fingers over his wrist. "I'm free next weekend."

"Me too." He said, smiling a bit.

"Good." Was all she replied, smiling back.

* * *

 **More story development next time, honest.**


	10. Lecture

**This one is very short a little fillery, I just wanted to get a chapter out, I'm working on the next one as we squeak.**

* * *

 _ **A Few Years Ago**_

Standing at the bar with a rum and staring at a fixed point on the wall, Kate felt herself tune out from the music, felt that distance develop between herself and what was going on around her. She was consumed by her thoughts, the most prevalent of which being: how did I let myself get here? Taking a sip of her drink, she glanced round the bar, and pulled her phone from her pocket, checking to see if Nick had cancelled on her. No, nothing. He was just late, as was becoming a trend.

As if he was feeling her increasing vitriolic thoughts towards him, she happened to glance at the bar door when it opened and he came in, expression serious and dark. She held up her hand and waved him over, he approached her quickly.

"Hey," he said quietly. Nick was a good looking guy, in his twenties, all scruffy hair and plaid shirts, and about a foot taller than her. "Look I know you're mad."

Kate laughed wryly a little bit.

"No, I'm fucking furious." She replied, her voice also low, looking him in the eye. "I know I said I wanted this shit left to you, but I didn't say that you could be giving _5 pounds_ of stuff away for next to _nothing_."

"Listen, he's good for it I swear… He is." He reaffirmed at another unconvinced laugh. She sipped her drink, eyes burning. The barman was off at the other end dealing with another customer, no one was paying attention.

"Can I fucking trust you with this? Because I know I might not be the most experienced with this but I can feel when I'm being _fucked_." She snapped, voice raising a little bit.

Nick glanced up at the barman warily. "Do you think we should talk outside?" He was clearly trying to evade her scorn, but she nodded, lips pursed, before downing her rum.

Out in the uncharacteristically cold night air, he led her round the corner into a little quiet alley, where the large bar dumpsters sat.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry. But you don't know the guy, when he tells you he can pay you half now and half later, you say 'thank you, sir' and get the fuck out of there." He explained, while she stood in front of him with her arms crossed, chewing the inside of her mouth. "He's a scary guy, and pot is small time for him he's a pills, coke, _meth_ type of guy, but he will make us some good money on the stuff."

"You wanna tell me why the hell I should trust that he's going to give us any money, when you shit your pants at the fucking mention of him?" She put her hand on her forehead. "Guess what? He now has a massive fucking chunk of our shit for half what it's worth, and he has absolutely no reason to do anything other than sell it and never speak to you again." She was gesticulating a lot, resisting the urge to shove him.

Kate's could feel her pulse in her wrist and the vein in her temple.

"Well that's very goddamn fucking easy for _you_ to say when you have never had to put your ass on the line!" He was yelling at her now, pointing.

"You're fucking right on that! That was the deal!" She yelled back. "You don't like it? I don't give a shit. I'm the one with the stash, I'm the one that's trying to fucking get somewhere in life with this, okay? You think I can't find another you? I'll go in that bar and grab another fucking you right now."

He looked at her for a moment, they were both breathing heavily with rage, arms still raised from the fight

"Have fun with that, bitch." He said darkly. "It's pot, how much money do you think we're dealing with here?"

Kate looked around and lowered her voice, stepping close to him. "You know what kind of quality you're dealing with, but you don't know the _quantity_. I'm not an idiot. This isn't a couple of dime bags, this isn't teenage kid on a street corner shit, and you know it." He was quiet now, and seemed to calm down, taking in how intensely she was looking at him. "I want the rest of the cash for those five pounds by the end of next week, or you're out. Do you want out?"

For a moment, she stared him down, until he swallowed and shook his head, breaking eye contact.

"No." He said quietly.

"Good." She replied, stepping back and swallowing, the cold night air hitting her afresh. "Sorry for yelling."

And she walked away, moving quickly down the street, and still wondering how the fuck she had got there.

* * *

 _ **Present Day**_

The day off work that the ended up spending together, after Kate had finally had the opportunity to put on a fresh pair of jeans, was surprisingly domestic, and enjoyable in its own way. He drove her to the supermarket it and walked with her while she did her grocery shopping, judging her snack food while she in turn judged what he would have chosen; they got lunch together and people watched, then he took her home and they had sex at her kitchen table.

At work the next day, Jimmy was thinking about her, it was her off day and he found himself looking at the desk where she usually sat and tapping his pen on the desk. He wasn't sure it was ever completely possible to _not_ feel something for a person that makes you cum, being inside them during the best feeling in the world. But this was after, hours after, actually. He didn't pursue girls very often, but once he did the feeling tended to wear off after they'd actually had sex. Jimmy definitely wanted to fuck her again, but he also wanted to hang out with her and take her grocery shopping again. That was strange.

His phone rang, and he took a quick sip of his coffee before answering.

"Goodman, one of my boys just picked up in El Paso for possession, I need you to get him out before it gets back to me." Another of his less reputable and more frightening clients.

"Possession of what? Drugs? Firearms?" He said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah." He replied, bluntly, not seeing the slight humour in what he had said.

"Okay, I'll get in touch with the station down there, Texas is outside my jurisdiction, technically. I'll try and get him moved up to Albuquerque holding, failing that, I'll head down there myself. Don't worry." He leaned back in his chair. "Is the guy a squealer?"

"No, I don't think so, but I've thought that about fuckers before and been wrong."

"I'll make it my top priority." Jimmy replied confidently, knowing he would probably have little trouble but not relishing the task either. "I'll be in touch."

"You better, the guy squeals and I'll fuckin' gut him myself."

A dial tone, and Jimmy hung up the phone with a sigh, and a little pinch of nausea that quickly passed. He drummed his fingers on the table and looked around his office, eyes landing as they often did on the seat that Kate often occupied. For a second, a wave of guilt hit him in the gut, and he asked himself if he was being selfish keeping her there, and if he was bringing her into seedy territory. He knew she was no stranger to a little criminality, but a little pot didn't match up to the kind of things that he dealt with.

But he couldn't think of her without thinking about what her lips felt like, or the sound of her laugh or the feel of her skin, and he knew he wasn't a good enough person to push her away. Not yet anyway, not so early on. Having a small taste of what it was like to be with her wasn't enough, it was like they hadn't even got started yet. He knew he was selfish.

Across town, Kate was sitting in a lecture on zoning law, it was less than entertaining, she had spent the first five minutes taking diligent notes, and the following forty-five doodling in the margin of her notebook, going over and over the lines of a cube, eyes glazing. She was thinking about her life a few years ago, how bad things had got with the dealing. It was hard for her to relate to that version of her, to even think of her as the same person.

She remembered feeling sick with anxiety every day, she remembered how nasty she had gotten. It made her cringe to remember some of the things she had said and done. It was like she had spent a year on an adrenaline kick, only coming back to herself after everything had gone to shit, but she had money to count.

In her back pocket, her phone buzzed, thankfully on silent, and she shuffled to discretely take it out. No one was beside her, and she was far enough away from the podium that she wouldn't look rude. It was a text from Jimmy, she'd hoped it would be, and just his name on the screen made her smile a bit and glance around.

 **'** **I'm thinking about you. What are you doing? Don't worry, this isn't a three whiskeys, hand down my pants text, I'm in the car.'**

' _It could still be a three whiskeys, hand down your pants text in the car, depends what kind of day you've had. I'm at college, having my ass bored off me by Methuselah's dad.'_

 **'** **That's a shame, what can I do to decrease your pain?'**

' _Dinner tonight?'_

 **'** **I dunno, I was thinking of making plans with my other hot blonde colleague. Where do you wanna go?'**

Kate grinned to herself before typing back. ' _I haven't stopped thinking about steak all day.'_

 **'** **Steak you shall have. And for dessert?'**

' _I was thinking ice cream, cheesecake, or fucking in your cadillac behind the restaurant?' She bit the inside of her mouth, she just could not resist._

It took a minute for him to reply to that one.

 **'** **Why not all three? And ps are you trying to make me crash the goddamn car?'**

' _You shouldn't even be texting while driving. Be more careful, I don't want this conversation on the news.'_

 **'** **You're right, I'll talk to you later, I've got a proposition for you that will hopefully brighten up your day but could potentially ruin it.'**

' _You can't say something like that and then not tell me what it is, Jimmy.'_

 **'** **I'll tell you about it in person.'**

' _What so I have to wait while tonight? That's not fair.'_

 **'** **Life's not fair, baby.'**

Kate rolled her eyes, glancing at the lecturer and holding back a laugh, squeezing her phone hard at his deliberate winding her up. She text him a few more times and got nothing in return, as she knew she wouldn't. She sent a last, ' _u r n asshole,'_ before putting her phone away and tucking in her pocket.

Finally, the lecture ended, and she swung her bag on her shoulder, glad to leave the auditorium step out into the fresh air. As fresh as it got in New Mexico anyway. Even though it was late afternoon the sun beat down strongly on her skin. She was glad just to be outside though, glad she'd worn a loose vest and jeans that day, feeling the breeze drift up her top and cool her skin.

"Well that was entertaining, right?" A girl she'd had a couple of coffees between classes with, Annie, caught up to her.

"Jesus, you ever get so bored you feel like you've left your body?" Kate said, and Annie laughed, shaking her head.

"I think he represented Anne Boleyn at her trial." Annie said, and Kate laughed, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "Are you getting the bus home?"

"Yep, still haven't got it together to get a car." Kate shrugged with sigh.

"Really?" She noticed Annie squinting and looking over her shoulder. "'Cuz I think that guy's trying to get your attention, and I would not mind a ride in _that_ car."

Kate turned, frowning and shielded her eyes to look in the same direction. The white cadillac with the licence plate: LWYRUP caught her eye before Jimmy it, leaning on the trunk of the car with his purple shirt sleeves rolled up, arm raised in a wave.

"Your dad?" Annie asked, and Kate almost winced, the image of her bent over the back of Jimmy's couch coming to mind, it was the second time she'd been asked that as well.

"Uh, no. he's my…" 'Boyfriend' was honestly the first word that came to mind, but she couldn't say it to someone else before they'd even established it with each other. Jimmy was just lighting a cigarette when she glanced over at him again. "My colleague, friend really, been giving me a lot of help.

"Nice of him to pick you up from college," Annie said pleasantly, though Kate could see the hint of scepticism there.

"Yeah, he lives near here, I forgot he said he'd swing by and get me on the way home from work." She said, unsure why she was lying. It was too difficult to explain their relationship to a relative stranger, she guessed. "I'll see you later then."

"9am class on Wednesday." Annie said with faux brightness.

"Ugh, don't remind me." Kate said, slipping away from the conversation and towards Jimmy. "Bye!"

"See ya."

"Hey there, smartie pants." He blew out a cloud of smoke, dropping the half cigarette on the ground and squashing it under his shoe. "Good, full day of learning, I presume?"

She was already smiling."What are you doing here?"

"Picking you up, is that okay?" He raised his eyebrow. As usual, he was being a little cocky, but there was a little flicker in his eyes that told her he was actually asking the question.

"Um, you saved me from the bus so hell yeah." She said, automatically reaching out to touch his tie. "You wanna come back to my place for a while before dinner?"

"Sure." He said, although he shuffled his feet a bit and didn't move closer to her while she fiddled with the end of his tie. It took her a moment for her to notice him glancing over her shoulder and the students walking by. Oh God. Kate pursed her lips and put a hand on his shoulder, before leaning in for short but deep kiss. He smiled at her when she pulled away and he kept his hand on her lower back, surprised.

"No one recognizes you here, and I'm not embarrassed anyway." She said, messing with his tie pin.

"Well in that case." He kissed her again, bending her back a bit and slipping his hand down to her ass, she laughed against his lips and slapped it away.

"Don't push it, _Goodman_." She slipped out of his grasp and moved round the car.

"You ladies are so hard to read." He said when they got in the car.

"Oh please talking." She rolled her eyes, knowing he was just trying to irritate her.

"No, I mean you're so indecisive, and moody, never know what's going on in you broad's pretty little heads." He said with mock delicateness.

"I will jump out of this moving car, motherfucker. Take me home." She leaned back in the increasingly familiar passenger seat, switching on the radio and looking out the window as they drove. The city was getting increasingly old to her. "Oh, what was that proposition you had for me?"

"Okay, hold onto your hat, okay? You ready for this?"

"Oh, I dunno, don't frazzle my nerves." She put her hand on her chest dramatically.

"Road trip." He said simply, and she looked at him. "Not a long one, but we could always, y'know, make the most of it. Get a hotel down there, stop for 7/11 breaks and candy. I'll even make a mix-tape of my best road trip tunes for you."

Kate giggled. "Mix-tape? You _are_ old."

"Hey, no need to be hurtful." He frowned, feigning offence. "Now are you in or not?"

"Honestly, you had me at road trip."

* * *

 **I mean, did you think I WASN'T going to load this shit with fanfiction tropes? Road trip!**


	11. Road Trip: Part I

_Little thing: I think I've had Jimmy saying 'fuck' more than I think he actually would? That's my own mannerism slipping in there, I apologise._

 _Have received a couple of very lovely comments as well, it's so motivating, thank you very much._

 _ **A Few Years Ago**_

Any other time, and the sound of soft footsteps on her kitchen floor would not have woken her, being the heavy sleeper that she was, but the kind of alert a person is on when sleeping in a large house alone is on another level. Even asleep, she had that vital fear below the surface that the world is dark and frightening when you are by yourself. She knew it was footsteps, boots, in fact, and fear struck her hard, her heart immediately beginning to hammer and her face draining all colour as she sat up in bed, fully awake. Her immediate was to freeze, and check she wasn't dreaming, but the noise was real, and adrenaline pushed her to scramble out of bed and reach for the metal baseball bat she had propped up in the corner, her cell phone was on the nightstand, but she knew it was dead. Cursing herself at the fact she had realised before going to sleep but had been too tired to plug it in, she approached her bedroom door on shaking legs, and moved her ear to the wood.

There were definitely people moving around out there, and they were making an effort to keep quiet, so not cops. Her own breath was coming out of her in a way she had never heard before, he mouth clamped shut it shook out of her nose, slightly whistling. She swallowed and tried to fight it. What was she even going to do? There was obviously more than one person, and she had no idea how big or strong they were. Her first gripping fear had been home invasion, but she knew it was rare. They were probably robbers, and she elected to stay quiet behind the bedroom door and mentally beg them to take what they wanted from out there and leave. For a moment she eyed the window, but knew from experience it was so old that it couldn't be opened without screeching terribly.

She could hear low voices, and pressed her ear closer to the door, they were speaking Spanish, and she had no idea what was being said.

Backing away from the door, she poised the bat in her sweating hands, knowing just how pathetic she looked in her faded pink cotton nightie, a strap hanging off her shoulder and a coffee stain still on the front. The footsteps would fade away, and then come back, and she wasn't sure how long they had been there when the floorboards at the other side of the door creaked, and the doorknob turned. She felt sick: why had she not tried to climb out of the window? Or screamed for help? Sprinted out of the house when they were at the other side of the house? She needed to pee.

Too late, a man peaked his head round the door, looking supremely serious until he saw her, his expression quickly moving from a frown, to surprise to vague amusement.

He held out his hand placatingly. Kate didn't know why she wasn't swinging yet.

"Hey, hey, you gonna cave my head in?" He asked. Immediately, she couldn't place exactly what was intimidating about him but intimidating was what he was: he was only a little taller than her, not significantly older than her, maybe Latino and not appearing outright as a robber in his paisley shirt and with his soft-spoken tone.

"I- wh- what are you doing here?" She hated herself for stuttering, but she was terrified. "Look, just take anything you want okay?"

"No, actually," he gently shut the door behind him, "I'm looking for something in particular, something a lot more valuable than those old lady ornaments out there."

It dawned on her. Why the fuck had it not occurred to her before?

"There we go," he was reading her expression, "you know what I'm talking about. Just tell me where it is, and we'll be out of your hair, put the place back just as we found it."

"I don't-"

"Please," he pressed his hands together in a pleading sort of way, "don't lie to me, niña bonita, I can tell this stuff is not your wheelhouse."

Kate felt the bat flop in her hands and she lowered it, arms slack. What was the point? She didn't have the balls to take on a bunch of guys in her nightwear. She swallowed deeply.

"I know I probably shouldn't ask but uh, what if I don't tell you?" She asked, tense, ready to brace for him to hit her or something. "Because I doubt you want to deal with a dead body right now." She was looking at the floor, still shaking.

He let out a small breath of a laugh.

"You're smart, huh?" He walked forward and she could feel her leg muscles quaking from the tension. The man moved round her and she flinched when he passed her close enough so she could smell his aftershave. The bedsprings creaked, and when she turned he had sat himself casually at the foot of the bed. Even with him sitting and her standing, bat in hand, he was by far the imposing one. "You're right, I'm not going to kill you. We could hurt you though."

She let out a shaky breath. "Yeah."

"Why so reluctant to let the shit go? I can see you're scared, just hand it over, chalk it up to experience." He shrugged casually, elbows resting on his knees.

"I just need the money." She said quietly, seeing no point in being dishonest. "It's like, my inheritance, I can't afford to stay here without it."

He nodded consideringly. "Your boy Nick told me all about it."

Of course, fucking Nick. Untrustworthy, unreliable, piece of shit, motherfucker, cocksucker…

"There we go: not so scared anymore," he pointed at her expression, "A little angry. I knew you'd have it in you to get as far as you have." He stood up, and he suddenly seemed very tall when he was directly in front of her. "Sit down."

Kate hesitantly obeyed, sitting down at the edge of the bed, he had moved himself into the dominant position and she'd willingly allowed him to do it. She tugged her strap up her shoulder and adjusted the hem of her nightie, feeling suddenly very exposed.

"Listen, I feel for you, your boy stabbed you in the back, and this isn't a fun situation," he said quietly, and crouched down in front of her so they were eye to eye. "So what do you wanna do? I'm getting a little maldito impatient here."

God, she almost shivered at the way he was looking at her, he looked like he could pounce at any second; she chewed the inside of her mouth.

"How about a deal?" She tried. He looked amused again, a small laugh leaving his nose. Kate forced herself to keep eye contact with him, refusing to not even try.

"A deal?" He raised his eyebrow. "What kind of deal?"

"You can have it, all of it, I just need to have a cut of the profits." She said quickly as if that would make it more palatable.

"Why would I do that?"

"I'll not tell anybody anything, I'll be in on it with you. And I'll tell you where it is, you won't find it if I don't tell you."

"You gonna tell the cops we broke in and stole your weed?"

"I'll tell them you broke in and threatened to kill me, robbed me. You could tell them the weed was mine if you wanted but I'll tell them I had no idea it was still in my dead grandma's house. Who do you think they'll believe?"

Considering her for a moment, he cocked his head and clicked his tongue. "You are smart, niña bonita. Brave too." He stood up straight. "But I don't know you, I don't know how much pain you can take before you give up where it is."

"Do you really wanna add assault to this list of charges?" She was shaking, goddamnit, but she sounded as strong as she possibly could. "Because I would make sure you got caught. This neighbourhood has cameras everywhere too." Looking up at him, she still braced for a smack. "Would it really hurt just to throw me a bit of cash and know your problems with me end tonight?"

"You know how to talk don't you?" He put his hands on his hips, laughing a bit again. "I can't even be mad, it's a little impressive. You sold anything in the last week?"

"No, whatever fucking Nick told you I have that's what I still have." She said honestly.

"And it's all the same quality?"

She nodded firmly, and there was a painfully long silence before to her shock, he held out his hand to her, and she hastily shook it.

"Ignacio." He said.

"Kate."

 _ **Present Day**_

Jimmy looked at the rolls of cash on his desk that seemed to shine like gold in a cartoon to him, and began to gather them up in his arms so he could set them in the safe. It was almost worth getting tossed to his knees in the desert and thinking he was going to die, he thought, as he pushed the panel of the wall and slid it open. He put all the bills away, leaving one roll aside; he and Kate would have a comfortable time in Texas with it. Closing up the safe and replacing the panel, he sat back on the floor for a moment, elbows on his knees.

Jimmy let out a breath, he wondered what he would feel like if they'd gone for the idea of 'taking care' of Mayhew. Guilty, he hoped. He felt guilty suggesting it, but surely if he felt really that bad about it he wouldn't have suggested in the first place. If there was anything he'd learned over the Saul years, it was best not to dwell on these things, though when he looked at the blue cardigan draped on the back of Kate's chair, he'd noticed it had been getting harder to be so solid in his immorality lately.

Thinking back to those brief seconds in the desert when he was looking in that trench, while doing his best to talk his way out of it, he had thought of Kate, pictured her wondering why he'd disappeared, and then getting over it and moving on with her life.

But he knew she wouldn't want him poor, and he didn't want him poor either.

Just a little further down the strip mall, Kate stepped out of a small cafe, cappuccinos in hand, she put her foot out to stop the door as it was about to swing shut, but a young guy in a baggie zip-up hoodie with tired blue eyes held it for her.

"Oh, thank you." She smiled walking through quickly.

"No problem." He said, and walked in the opposite direction.

Sipping her drink, she looked at the giant inflatable Statue of Liberty on the roof of where she worked, and smiled a little bit; the thing was _ridiculous_.

The waiting room was almost empty when she went inside, save for Huell snoring loudly in the corner and a tall brunette in an incredibly short skirt standing at the desk talking to Francesca. She walked over to Huell and nudged his shoulder, and he jerked slightly and opened his eyes.

"You've been here a week buddy, maybe enough with the sleeping on the job, here." She held out the coffee to him. "Soy, I know you're lactose intolerant."

"Thanks." He said gratefully, rubbing his eye, and taking it. She listened a little to the woman at the desk, who was smoking a cigarette as she went over to Jimmy's office.

"So what? He doesn't wanna represent me any more? I held up my end of the deal." She said boredly, taking a drag of her cigarette.

Kate waited a second at the office door, not wanting too much to look like she was eavesdropping as she pretended to adjust the lid of the coffee and took a look at the woman. Honestly, she looked a lot older than she had expected from behind, and the somewhat smudged, faded makeup around her eyes didn't help. She was a little bit unsteady on her feet, and when she spoke she sounded a little like she had been drinking.

"Mr Goodman suggests Cooper and Platz in the future," Francesca pushed a card across the table, "And _again_ , you're not allowed to smoke in here."

Kate raised her eyebrow and opened the door of the office; Jimmy was on his phone when she went inside, speaking badly accented Spanish to somebody as he held a hand up in acknowledgement of her. It had a tendency to get oppressively warm in the office and she huffed at the heat as she closed the door quietly and set down his coffee on the desk in front of him, earning a little smack on the ass as she walked away.

It was all well and good him being his sleazy self now, but she still remembered a conversation from a couple of nights ago, he'd called her very late sounding harassed, and urgent, and told her that he couldn't stop thinking about her and that she was beautiful. A couple of hours later he called back to say he'd been drinking and he was sorry for waking her up, and they both laughed it off. Not that it wasn't nice that he'd called her just to say that, but it had worried her, particularly the tone of his voice.

When he hung up, she was opening a case file on her desk.

"Hey there's a woman outside saying something abou-"

"Wait, hold on," he rubbed his eyes, "before I forget: do you know how to set up an out of office thingy on my email and phone while we're in Texas?"

"Yeah, it's super easy." She shrugged, absentmindedly thumbing through the file. He faced his computer screen and frowned, ineffectually clicking, and she looked up at him with his brow furrowed and chewing the inside of his mouth.

"Oh my god, how do you even know how to work a cell phone?" She laughed, looking up at him now fully.

" _Oh my god_ , how about you don't laugh at your boss and come do this for me?" He leaned back in his chair, and she shook her head, but went over and got on his computer. It took her a matter of seconds to put the message on his email, and she picked up the phone to record the message for that.

"Hey," he stopped her, holding out his hand."How about you do it in a British accent?" 

She laughed and looked down at him smiling a little but mainly looking completely serious.

"What?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Come _on_ , it'll make me sound classy." He shrugged.

"I don't sound classy enough for you already?" She raised her eyebrow, holding the phone aloft 

"Nothing classier than a British accent." He said like it was a fact, and put his hand on her leg. "C'mon, don't ya like me?"

Rolling her eyes, she slapped his hand off and let out a sigh, she picked up the phone and pressed the record button. "The things I do for you."

She cleared her throat. "Hello, you've reached the offices of Saul Goodman and Associates, we're frightfully sorry to have missed your call, but Mr Goodman is presently on a business trip, feel free to leave a message, or to call 378-345-166 for any urgent business. Cheerio!"

The accent wasn't the best but it seemed to impress him enough as he beamed up at her and clapped his hands together.

"That was great!" He said. "You ever thought about going into acting?"

"Shut up." She smiled, shaking her head and going back over to her desk. "Do you want me to do anything special today because I don't think I can stomach another manilla folder."

"How about you get your butt over here and have a little break?" He raised his eyebrow, twisting his chair lazily side to side. She cocked her head, biting back a little smile.

"What's with you today? Did you take a viagra with your rogaine this morning?" But she got up anyway and rounded the table.

"Ouch, uncalled for." He said but she could see he was amused. "And you know I don't need viagra yet." He put his hands on her hips and tugged her to sit on his lap, and she giggled as they kissed once, softly.

"How's your morning been?" He asked, kissing her again a little more deeply.

"Pretty much just getting ready to come to work." She rested her hand on the side of his neck and shuffled further up his lap, just touching her tongue to his and letting out a small sound. Why was this man so attractive to her?

Kate held onto his tie as the slowly and a little wetly kissed, until she felt something poke her thigh slightly. She pulled back a little and raised her eyebrow. "Are you already a little hard?" 

"Been thinking about you since I woke up, so yeah, sue me." His hand went up the back of her shirt and just rested on the skin of her lower back.

She peppered kisses down his jawline. He just had a face she wanted to kiss.

"But I don't know any good lawyers." Running her fingers down his tie, she enjoyed the firm grip he had on her when their lips reattached. Of course, seconds later the intercom on his desk buzzed and he moaned childishly. She broke away, and laughed a little, shifting off his lap. "Get back to work." She pecked his cheek one last time and he muttered a quick 'goddamnit' before pressing the intercom.

The days came and went as usual, and when it was time to make the drive down to El Paso, Kate was pleased for the chance to get out of the city for a change, even if the landscape on the way wouldn't change that much. She'd always been a fan of long drives as it was, but she suspected a long drive with Jimmy would be especially entertaining. They were going to drive down early, meet the guy, spend the night in a nice hotel and go home. Admittedly, she was looking forward to the hotel part too, there was something kind of sexy about a hotel room, a little anonymous and separate from either of their own spaces. Hotel rooms were expensive sheets and room service, and minibars and not having to leave the room for anything.

"Yeah mom El Paso I told you last week." She rubbed her nose, leaning back on the couch, still half asleep with her phone pressed between her ear and her shoulder; Jimmy was going to arrive any minute and he was an early riser.

"Who are you going with?" Her mother's voice was a little shrill at this time in the morning and she winced.

"My boss is taking me, it's a work trip." Kate bit back a yawn, looking at her feet on the coffee table.

"Is he a good driver?"

"Yes mom, he's in his 40's he's not one of my high school buddies who just got their licence." She knew she was being a little short when it was coming out of her mouth.

"Oh, have you got your haircut yet? It was a little long when you were here for Christmas." She said, barely acknowledging the last thing Kate had said.

"Nope." 

"Oh Kate, you look so much better with a bob, it slims your face."

"I know." Her eyes were actually closing.

"I wish you would listen to me when I say these things, how do you think I started dating your father?"

"Wiccan rituals?"

"I took pride in my looks."

"Mom, please, you know I don't leave the house without a full face of makeup and some hairspray can you stop talking like I'm still a fat mousy teen?" Kate leaned forward and put her hand on her forehead.

"Speaking of which, are you still bleaching your hair?"

"Yes I still like it blo-"

"You're gonna lose every hair on your head sweetie." Her mom said exasperatedly.

"Probably, right? Okay I gotta go, Mr Goodman's here."

"Who's that?"

"Bye mom."

Kate hung up, ten times more frustrated that she was when the phone call had started. When Jimmy _did_ actually arrive, she emerged from the house with sunglasses on and sweatpants secure and he got out of the car. It was a fresh morning and pleasant, but she had never been an early morning person.

"Not that you don't look ravishing but that's not the most professional outfit there." He took her overnight bag and loaded it into the trunk.

"My nice clothes are in my bag, didn't want to have a screwed up suit on the long-ass ride." She surveyed his pale blue shirt, pink striped tie and grey suit pants. "You went a different way." 

"Jacket's hung up in the back." He rolled up his sleeves to the elbows. "It won't take us that long to get there.

"What if you sweat?" She asked as she opened the car door. 

"I'm gonna be wearing my jacket." He said. "You calling me sweaty?"

"Uh, yes." She smiled as he got in too.

A coffee was waiting for her in the passenger seat cupholder, and when she sipped it he had sweetened it as she liked it though not quite put enough milk in. She was grateful for it though, and quietly enjoyed it as they made their way out of the city and onto the freeway. They listened to the radio for a while and eventually hooked up his iPod, and he half-yelled at her for skipping songs if they weren't quite right. Eventually she just let the thing play, laughing at him when he sang along enthusiastically and tapped his hands on the steering wheel. She looked sideways at him as he was looking ahead at the road, noticing again that his jawline was a little more defined, and that his waistline was slimmer where his shirt was tucked in.

"Have you been losing weight?" She asked, smiling a bit. He looked down at himself, and she caught a little flash of embarrassment there.

"I've been working out a little." He shrugged, still looking out of the front window. Kate bit her lower lip, fighting off a grin as she turned sideways in her seat.

"For _me_?" She raised her eyebrow.

"What? I gotta be trying to impress you to want to look good?" He said unconvincingly, glancing at her now. The truth was, he had actually been trying pretty hard to not eat as much crap and do a workout tape every night he wasn't seeing her when he got home, and was glad she'd noticed. Not that she'd ever commented on him being a little chunky, but he noticed and he knew he'd looked better.

"I guess not." She shrugged, but she was smiling and sounded pretty smug. Jimmy glanced at her as she looked out of the front window, gently smiling to herself. It wasn't just the way he looked, he didn't want to drag behind her, he didn't want to be on his back, out of breath and spent when she still wanted to go for another hour, or in any way give her a reason to reconsider whatever they had going on.

They slipped into general conversation as he drove, watching the scenery roll by, beautiful as it often was, and stopping for pee breaks after she had finished her coffee. She was snacking on a bag of jelly sweets and talking about a girl in one of her classes she didn't like.

"I mean, she just thinks she's so goddamn smart because her mommy and daddy paid for her to go to school and she has _so many_ lawyers in the family." She mimicked in a whiny voice. "Bitch didn't have to do a thing to get here." 

"You only respect people who got into law school on drug money right?" He smirked.

"First of all: smartass. Second of all: at least I god damned worked for that." She laughed and he did too. "Want one?" She held out the bag of sweets and he took one. "So, University of American Samoa? How come there?"

"It's uh… Kind of a long story actually. Let's just say I had a colourful past that meant I wasn't exactly Harvard material." He said evasively.

"Oh fuck you Jimmy, you know about mine, tell me about yours." She pinched his arm.

"It's nothing _big_. Nothing like you anyway, Scarface." He said and she rolled her eyes. "Just a couple of misdemeanors and a pretty big misunderstanding I'll tell you about another time. Anyway, it was an online thing and it got me through the Bar anyway."

"Wow, that's impressive." She said.

"You don't have to be sarcastic." He replied.

"No I'm not!" And she was being earnest. "You did an online course when the internet was still a hunk of shit and managed to pass the Bar? That's impressive as hell, Jimmy."

He bit his lip and fought back a grin, looking at the road; she did have a knack for making him feel about 17, in the best way.

They had another bathroom and gas break and Jimmy went inside the little station to pay and get them some soda's. Kate got out of the car and stretched out her back, glad they were near Texas as her butt was starting to go numb and her legs were getting restless. She had to smile to herself as she leaned on the hood of the caddy; the trip had already been pretty fun and they hadn't even got there yet. When Jimmy was heading back to the car he had to shake his head at how good she always looked leaning against his car. He tossed her a Coke.

"Y'know, I haven't left the state in forever." She said pensively as she cracked it open, enjoying the breeze.

"Me neither, come to think of it." He took a deep drink. "Kinda depressing when you think about it, considering."

"Considering what?"

"Well," He leaned next to her, "that I never intended to end up all the way down here."

"Yeah, me neither." She nodded, looking off into the distance.

"There are worse places to be I guess." He shrugged and stood up straight, getting back in the car.

"Where?" She chuckled, getting in too.

"I dunno, Minnesota? Alaska?"

"Texas?" She grinned.

Hitting the road again, they got onto chatting about movies, as they often did, and arguing about them, they did that a lot too. After a while, something occurred to her.

"Oh, I meant to ask you. There was this woman in the office the other day, tall, kinda haggard looking…"

"Sounds like a lot of my clientele." He said.

"Yeah, but she was saying that you didn't want to represent her anymore, said something about 'holding up her end of the deal'?" Kate said quizzically. She had no way of knowing, but Jimmy started to get a little nervous. "Not to be judgemental but she looked like a hooker to me. Was there something shady going on there?"

"No, no, not uh- shady." He couldn't look at her, he should have known something like this was going to come up.

"What was the 'deal' then? _Is_ she a hooker?" Kate started to get a little worried by his sudden fixation on the road and his shortness. Jimmy frowned and glanced at her, looking a little irritated.

"What are you asking me here?"

Kate raised her eyebrow, starting to feel a little bit sick at what she had brought up here.

"I don't know, Jimmy, what do you think I'm asking?" She crossed her arms, looking square at him.

"Kinda sounds like you're accusing me of something." He said, and his faux angry tone couldn't hide the sheepishness there.

"Well I wasn't but maybe I am now since you're getting all defensive. I was wondering if you had some kind of less than legal understanding with her, now I'm worried that it wasn't only less than legal but that it was fucking _gross_?" She could feel the anger rising up in her and saw him flinch a bit.

He gripped the steering wheel. Jimmy knew he wasn't going to lie to her, she had already worked it out, she wasn't dumb.

"It was before I knew you, okay?" He said, and she immediately felt sick, closing her eyes and pressing the bottle into her forehead. "She needed my services and she couldn't afford it, and at the time I… needed hers." He was well aware of how pathetic it sounded when it came out of his mouth.

"No! Not okay! This wasn't just some woman you slept with, this is a woman you to all intents and purposes, paid for sex. I mean are you fucking kidding me?" She was openly shouting now, practically stamping her foot.

"Kate I-"

"Shut up! I don't even know you right now I mean," She put her hands on her face, "Christ we haven't even used a condom every time, I'm such an idiot."

"Hey! I haven't given you anything for Christ's sake, I never even had sex with her I just…"

"Just what?" She looked at him again and he immediately wished he hadn't said anything, she looked furious. "Just got her to blow you for legal counsel!? Jesus." She looked out of the window because she couldn't look at him, fists clenched.

"Is is any surprise to you really?" He retaliated, because she was making him feel bad. "I mean you know there's shady legal shit going on but a blowjob is where you draw the line?"

"Yup, I guess so. I guess sexual exploitation is where I draw the line." She snapped.

"Sexual exploitation? That is such a goddamn exaggeration." He yelled back.

She sarcastically laughed loudly. "You're right! I'm just being a bitch! You know what, if you're a little shook up by it you can always find some fucking crackhead with seven kids to suck your cock and make you feel better!"

He frustratedly slapped his hand on the steering wheel and the horn beeped, and after that there was just painful, deafening, angry silence.

Neither of them looked at each other. Kate was looking dead out of the passenger window with her heart thudding and her cheeks flushed. She knew that he could be smarmy, and amoral, but just the idea of him having this kind of 'understanding' with an incredibly rough looking prostitute made her want to throw up. Any human sympathy she would have usually had for the woman was out of the window, she was just furious, and angry with herself that she hadn't been more careful with him.

Down the road a way, she spotted a sign for a rest stop.

"Pull over there I wanna get out." She said as the approached the turn off, voice a little hoarse.

"What? Don't be stupid, okay? We're only a few miles from El Paso." He said quietly. 

"Did I stutter? I don't wanna go, pull over." Her arms were still crossed.

"No."

"Pull the fuck over!"

There was a pause where he scowled at her, but she ignored him, and he made the turn at the last minute, pissing off the whoever was in the lane he crossed.

"Kate, what are you gonna do, huh? You gonna walk back to Albuquerque?" He slowed down the car before parking, so they could talk.

"Maybe I'll get a cab, I'll bill it to Saul Goodman and Associates." She got out without hesitation and slammed the door, walking into the nearest building, which happened to be a McDonalds.

Jimmy watched her go, bag on her shoulder and swinging her arm and she swiftly walked in. He could see how angry she was even from behind, her fist still clenched at her side as she went in the building.

Letting out a long, deep sigh, he put his hands on his face and then ran them through his hair. He could not deny being mad with her in return for making him feel like a piece of shit and holding on to something that he'd done before he even met her, but he knew why she was angry, and he couldn't blame her.

' _Should've known she would catch onto the fact I'm a piece of shit soon enough.'_

He rested his hands on the steering wheel but didn't turn on the engine; he knew he wasn't just going to abandon her here, but he didn't know how to go in and talk to her yet, he'd never seen her so mad. It took him a minute to steel himself, but eventually he got out of the car, determined that if he was going to have her never speak to him again it wasn't going to be over something so stupid and pathetic on his part.

Entering the restaurant, he was glad it was pretty busy, he doubted she would scream at him and throw a drink in his face in front of all these people, (though he wasn't sure). He found her sitting at a booth in the corner, looking thoroughly miserable and munching on an order of fries and she looked at her phone.

When he slipped into the seat across from her, she pursed her lips and dropped what he was eating.

"Will you talk to me please?" He asked softly.

Kate considered him and his stupid blue eyes for a moment, and swallowed.

"I wanna know everything." She said simply.

"What?"

"I wanna know everything. All the bad shit you do at work, I wanna know." She said, linking her fingers on the table.

He laughed a bit in disbelief. "Kate, no."

"Okay, then I quit." She said with a shrug, standing.

"Come on." He said derisively, like she was joking.

"I'm not messing around, Jimmy. You were right, I know you're into shady stuff and I'm looking the other way, so either you tell me exactly what I'm looking away from and I'll decide if I want to stay after that." She said flatly. 

"You don't know what you're asking. You aren't gonna see me the same after this." His tone was entirely serious now as he looked up at her.

"Try me. I've dealt drugs and I rent my house with the money for it, I got in with some dangerous people and I don't regret it 'cause it got me what I want. Your turn." She whispered. 

"Kate." He said, a bit surprised.

"Your turn, I said. If you want to continue to work with me, date me, or bang me." He could tell by her look and her tone that there was no way she was backing down from this.

He let out a long sigh, eventually laughed a bit again, and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb.

"You're serious aren't you?" He said.

"100%."

It took him a moment, but he only had to imagine not seeing her the next day to convince him that he had no choice.

"Okay, okay. But not here, alright? It's not safe. At the hotel tonight." He beseeched.

"Jimmy… I'm not going to change my mind by then." She warned.

"I know, this isn't a ploy I swear." He said. "Just grab your suit and we can get the job done and I'll tell you everything."

"Okay." She nodded. "Bring my fries."

They were in El Paso within an hour, and she was very quiet and cold to him on the way down, which he hated. She could feel herself being that way, but she couldn't deny that the confession had bothered her and she was still mad about it. It was difficult to look at him without imagining that woman under his desk while he sat in the chair where they'd just been making out the other day. It wasn't even just the act, it was the fact that she probably hadn't enjoyed it, that she did it for compensation, and he knew it, that bothered her most.

The city was what she expected, but pretty, not that different from Albuquerque in many ways. It was difficult to enjoy it with the mood she was in, and they drove straight to the station to meet with Jimmy's client.

During the meeting, Kate was quiet, calmly offering her input when necessary but without the niceties that usually came with her. Jimmy wished she would look at him, or snicker at one of his jokes or something, but she didn't, and he was glad when they arrived at the hotel and went to the desk that he wasn't far from her actually talking to him.

"Yeah, booking under Goodman." He said to the girl at reception.

"You've booked the luxury suite for one night, is that correct?" She said brightly.

"That's right." He said, glancing at Kate, who was just leaning on the desk and chewing the inside of her mouth, barely listening.

"Great, I'll get your keys for you." She went to the little cubbies behind her and found there key while Jimmy and Kate stood in awkward silence. "Here you go, and would you like to arrange a wake up call?"

"Yeah 6am, we want to get off early." Kate said brusquely, and Jimmy pursed his lips.

"No problem, we can arrange that for you." The girl smiled. "Enjoy your stay." 

"Thanks." Jimmy said, following Kate's quick pace down the hall to the elevators up to there room. "Christ, looked like we've been married for 10 years and considering separation." He grumbled when the doors closed.

"Oh did I embarrass you in front of the pretty reception lady?" Kate snapped back.

"Jesus, I thought we were done with this fight." He said, irritation at her rising as they stepped out of the elevator and headed for their room.

"It's not a fight Jimmy I'm just annoyed." She said, unlocking the door and stepping inside. "And I'm worried."

"About what?" He set their bags down, barely taking in the attractiveness of the room he had booked.

Kate immediately took off her shoes, and sat on one of the comfortable couches in the surprisingly large seating area that was a little ways away from the foot of the huge bed.

"I'm worried that you're going to tell me something else I don't like even more than what I already know." She said quietly, tucking her legs under herself. Jimmy sat in the adjacent chair, and took of his jacket and tie.

"Then how about I just don't tell you? It's safer for you that way anyway."

"No. I told you I'm not changing my mind. It's small minded and childish of me to just look the other way like some mob wife." She said.

"Well, I'm no gangster I can tell you that right now." He said, taking off his shoes.

"Good. That's a start." She smiled slightly. "Now come on, I'm not waiting any longer."

He sighed. "God. Are you wearing a wire?"

"Stop trying to be funny it's not going to work." She said bluntly, eyebrows raised.

"Okay, I guess we'll start with money laundering."

The laundry list of shady shit was long to say the least, after about half an hour, she had learned about his involvement in money laundering, helping out big time drug dealers, tax evasion, evidence removal, and various ambiguous lawsuits. Even when he was listing it all he couldn't believe he was saying it. He thought he was over spilling his guts to any pretty girl that paid him attention, but apparently not. Maybe she wasn't just any pretty girl to him.

There was a long quiet when he had finished and she looked at the coffee table a while and then at him.

"Seriously?" Was all she could say.

"I guess I'm more corrupt than I thought," He said, not having thought about it all in a list like that. "So, how do you feel about it?"

She let out a soft laugh, messing with the fabric of the couch.

"I don't know… I mean, you're still leaving out a lot of details." 

"Plausible deniability, kid." He said darkly. She nodded, understanding, and feeling like she had heard enough to incriminate them both. She went quiet again. "What are you thinking?" He asked, bracing himself for her to stand up and leave and take his cadillac with her.

"I'm thinking that I'm going to have a bath." She said, standing up and stretching.

"Oh." He rested his hands on his thighs. Jimmy didn't expect her to walk over to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not mad." She said, and kissed his cheek, before crossing the room to the bathroom.

The water was scalding hot when she started to run the bath, just as she liked it, and she was glad for how deep and long the tub was. Swirling in some bubble bath from one of the mini bottles on the edge, she sat on the toilet seat and watched the water twirl and rise. She almost felt like she was waiting to feel badly about what he had told her, to get a crisis of conscience to make her want to leave, but it wasn't coming. Knowing that what he had was ill gotten and knowing he had helped bad people get away with it didn't make her think less of him.

She turned off the hot tap and twisted the cold, before beginning to strip her suit off.

' _Is there something wrong with me? Am I a bad person? Is Jimmy?'_

While unsure of herself, she honestly did not believe that Jimmy was a bad person his ethics may have been a little askew, and his determination to get rich or succeed was throwing off his moral compass, but a bad person? She could not believe that.

Swishing her hand in the water and feeling that it was just right for her if a little too hot, and switched off the cold, and stepped into the deep water, before laying herself down and making sure to keep her loosely pinned up hair out of the water. Kate loved baths, they were either a time for deep thought or for completely shutting off your brain, this was a time for shutting off the brain.

The heat relaxed her muscles, and she enjoyed the feel of the hot water on her skin, coming up over her breasts even from the depth. She sighed, and closed her eyes.

"Hey," there were a few knocks on the door, "I really gotta pee."

Kate sat up irately, "Well hold it."

"I can't, come on I'm dying out here."

"Jesus Christ," She swore to herself. "Fine, come in, goddamnit." Bending her legs, she looked down at herself and saw that the bubbles were keeping most of her modesty even if most of her breasts were showing and her knees protruded from the water.

Jimmy came in quickly, hastily thanking her while unbuckling his belt, she covered her eyes and looked away even though he had his back to her at the other side of the small bathroom.

"Oh my god I can't believe we're already here." She said, shaking her head and almost laughing a bit as he rested his hand on the wall behind the toilet and she started to hear water hitting water.

"What, I can have sex with you but not pee in front of you?" He said, unfazed.

"Surely this kind of thing is a good year down the line." She said, and looked at his back.

"Yeah well, in the interest of honesty and transparency I'm gonna say this is okay." He flushed the toilet and zipped up his pants.

"Seat down." She said, and he looked back at her with a little smirk before tapping it down.

Jimmy hadn't seen her in the bath or shower yet, with her blonde hair all tied up and the wet skin he could just see, the whole thing reminded him of that scene in American Beauty, just hopefully less creepy. He washed his hands, and turned to find her looking at him, and thankfully, smiling.

"Are you still mad at me?" He asked delicately, kneeling down next to the bath.

"I already said I'm not mad." She said, and put her wet hand on his forearm where it rested on the tub.

"Disappointed?" He asked, looking at the bubbles.

"No." She said honestly. "I don't feel any differently about you."

"Why not?" He asked, genuinely unsure.

"I guess I just like you too much." She said, and leaned forward and kissed him softly. Jimmy quickly leaned forward and rested his hand on the side of her face to kiss her more deeply. Looping her arms around his neck, she both sat up more and pulled him forward, wetting his shirt in the process.

"You're crazy." He said, pulling away from her mouth.

"I guess." She smiled, and took his bottom lip in hers again.

"Is it 'cause you've realised I'm richer than you thought?"

She laughed and bit his lip.

"Ah!"

"Shut up." She said, looking at him pointedly, before letting go of him.

"Now I gotta change out of this shirt." He said with fake annoyance, starting to leave.

"Orrrr…" She cocked her head, and he raised his eyebrow at her. "You could join me in this very big and still very hot bath."

Jimmy's mouth could have watered, "I'm not gonna say no to that."


	12. Road Trip: Part II

Kate was lazily leaning her chin on the side of the tub with one arm draped out as Jimmy slid his shirt off his shoulders and started to pull his undershirt over his head. She wolf-whistled when he dropped it, and he gave her a faux stern look before unbuckling his belt. It did feel a little embarrassing to be undressing in front of her like this; his legs seemed especially pale and scrawny with her scrutinizing eye on him.

"Oof, come to mama." She wiggled her eyebrows and bit her bottom lip.

"Would you stop?" He said with his fingers on the waistband of his boxer briefs.

"No." She grinned. "The water's getting cold with you taking your time about it." She moved so her back was lying against the back of the bath again and she lifted her leg out of the water and watched the water run down. He watched too, and while she was occupied took off his underwear.

Thankfully, it was one of those baths with the taps in the middle rather than at one end so it wouldn't be poking him in the back. He stepped in and eased himself into the water, and she giggled and readjusted herself so her legs were crossed and tucked under his.

"Comfortable?" She asked, amused by the sight of bubbles coming up to his chest.

"Incredibly." He said and lay his head back, relaxing. Kate smiled and moved onto her knees, he cracked his eye open in time to see water and suds run down her chest and stomach like something from a dirty movie. Jimmy swallowed as she put her hands at either side of his body and moved to her stomach to rest on his.

"It's a really nice hotel Jimmy, thank you." She said quietly and rested her chin on his chest.

"I thought I'd book somewhere nice and classy for a classy lady." He dipped his hands into the water and rested them on her lower back.

"You think I'm classy?" She enjoyed the feeling of the water between their skin.

"Maybe not all the time." He said, and tucked his arms under her knees to easily pull her legs up to his waist. "Some of the words you say when you yell at me aren't classy."

God, she could swear that when they were pressed that close together and he spoke in that low tone that reverberated through her body, he could say anything and it would turn her on.

"Mhmm?" Was all she could say.

"Yeah, and some of the stuff you say right as you're about to cum." He said softly, and she actually shuddered, pressing her forehead into his chest.

"Oh my god, Jimmy." Was all she could say, laughing a bit as her cheeks flushed and he rested his hands on her ass.

"Sorry," He kissed her temple and she lifted her head to kiss his lips, "didn't mean to embarrass you."

"Oh no you would never dream of doing that." She kissed him again, deeply, firmly seating herself on his lap and feeling his half-hard dick pressed up against her. They kissed for a while, slowly, wetly, he kneaded her behind in his hands and enjoyed the feel of her wet breasts against his chest. He was fully hard now, and she could feel it, thoroughly aroused herself, though the water was quickly washing away any natural lubrication.

Jimmy slipped a hand between them and pressed against the lips of her, just circling her clit while she moaned, and moved her mouth down his jaw and the side of his neck.

"The water's getting cold." He said, gripping her hips as his tongue and teeth teased his skin.

"You're right." She said, breaking away, a little breathless. "And if we fuck in here we'll have to pay for a new floor." Pecking his lips again, she pulled away from him and eased herself up so she was standing in front of him.

Jimmy looked up at her, at the water running over her chest and belly, and thighs.

"You're just showing off." He said, throat dry.

"What?" She said innocently, stepping gracefully out of the tub. "You want me to shower in a bathing suit?"

"No," he stood up too while she wrapped a towel round herself, "I want you to be naked as much as humanly possible. "

Kate smirked and handed him a towel, which he secured round his waist. The expensive tile floor was wetter than they should have left it, but she didn't care to deal with it yet, her cheeks were still flushed and her body was still humming, she still wanted to touch him and he wanted to touch her.

Jimmy took her hand and tugged her over to him, kissing her again and running his hands up her waist. She was too caught up to notice him reach where her towel was tucked together, and in seconds he had tugged it open and let it drop to the floor.

"Jimmy!" She squealed, reflexively covering herself like he hadn't just seen her naked a few minutes ago.

"Like I said: naked as much as humanly possible." And he put his hands on her butt and lifted her, she looped her arms round his neck and legs round his hips, surprised by his strength. "You're heavier than you look." He grunted, carrying her out of the room.

"Shut up." She pinched his shoulder, and laughed when he dropped her on the bed harder than necessary.

Jimmy started on kissing down her body as he leaned over her, her neck, her chest, her stomach. There was still an innate bit of leftover embarrassment from her teenage years at his focus on her belly, but he didn't linger long, wasting no time in pressing his lips to her pussy and making her convulse.

"Shit." She whispered, more to herself. He pulled back and replaced his mouth with the tip of his index finger, teasing her open and quickly finding her clit, which he circled and rubbed, occasionally touching her opening softly until she was dripping wet. Then, he reattached his mouth and sent her arching her back and putting her hands on her face.

Every movement of his mouth and tongue over the folds, not leaving a single part of her untouched made her curl her toes and moan. She laced her fingers in his thin hair, and when he eased a finger into her at the same time, she grabbed, almost hurting him. Everything felt so intense, and she squeezed her eyes shut. All she could hear was the obscene noise of him enjoying this just as much as her; the wet smacking, and kissing, and the little "mm's" that escaped his throat and reverberated through her.

His arms came under her thighs, and his hands pushed her hips down where she hadn't noticed they'd been rising off the bed. He seemed to press harder then, and she covered one of his large hands with her smaller one, mouth dropping open again and digging her nails into his knuckles. She could feel that gorgeous, hot pressure building in her entire lower half. Jimmy didn't eat pussy like he _had_ to do it, he did it like it was his favourite thing in the world, and earned every single thing he would get in return.

"Fucki- ah!" Throwing her head back, she dug her heels into the mattress, and bit her lip, an especially delightful shot of pleasure hitting her.

Jimmy looked up at her, making eye contact, a muffled groan coming from his chest as he saw the flush in her cheeks and the pleasure on her face, his cock almost hurt he was so hard, pointing up to his stomach and pressed against the bed. The look of him made her shudder. He looked perfect between her legs, eyes slightly glazed and nose poking just above her clit.

Soon it was getting too much, the building pressure, she almost wished he would stop licking her clit because she felt if he didn't that she would literally burst, or cry. Her eyes closed, her lip slipped from her teeth and he had to look away from her face at risk of coming onto the sheets before they'd even started.

Now he was fucking her with his tongue, and she was so far gone that she barely noticed him putting her knees over his shoulders so he could get as deep as possible, even tipping her hips back so he could dip his mouth to her asshole occasionally.

"Oh, fuck, Jimmy..." Her eyes clenched closed and her grip tightened on his hands, her thighs almost entirely closed on his ears, muscles clenching involuntarily. "I'm- shit- I-" Her head fell back and she groaned in frustration that she couldn't even get the words out, he was working her clit so fast and expertly that she saw stars.

When she finally came, the entire bottom half of her body shaking and her nails the back of his hands, she didn't sound like a porn star, but the sounds she made still made precum leak from the tip of his cock as she swore, and moaned, and said 'Jimmy' over and over. He kept sucking her clit and dragged it out for as long as possible until she had to tell him to stop.

"It's too much," She panted breathlessly, laughing a bit, and pushing his head. He smirked and stopped, but licked her one more time just to make her shake and say 'ah!'

Her limbs were heavy, and her eyelids were getting that way too as she breathlessly looked at the ceiling, the back of her hand resting on her forehead. When she looked down at Jimmy, he had his chin resting on her abdomen and was looking at her with a thoroughly pleased with himself expression, lips still wet.

"You forgive me?"

"Be quiet." She made herself sit up, and he crawled back up her body and kissed her.

Kate nudged his shoulder until he lay on his back and climbed on top of him, straddling his hips and latching their lips together again. He palmed her breasts, running his thumbs over each nipple as her pussy pressed just against the underside of his cock. She positioned him at her entrance with her hand, letting him feel how wet she was for a second, because of him, before sinking down. Jimmy looked her face, her eyes fluttering closed, and letting out a hum as he filled her, and he felt a tightening in his chest he hadn't felt for a long time. For a second, he just looked at her above him, taking the sight of her in.

' _She's so goddamn beautiful… She's so beautiful. She's perfect.''_

"Jimmy," she breathed, and he had to look down at where they were joined, and watch himself slipping in and out of her for a minute, because the rush of emotion was becoming overwhelming, and hearing her say his name like _that_ wasn't helping.

When she started moving, her movements moving from a slow, leisurely roll of her hips to the point where she was riding him, hands on his stomach, he focussed only on how good it felt to have her fucking him, taking control, and sounding like she was enjoying it.

"You like that?" He ground out, reaching down and gently rubbing circles on her sensitive clit, not pressing hard but doing just enough to make her clench and shake a little. She nodded, feeling the building, pressured heat already. There was no way she thought she'd be able to cum again so soon.

He was annoyed at himself that he wasn't going to last longer, but he was going to cum soon and he wanted to do it like this, but not until after she had.

Jimmy grabbed her hips, and began to drive her movements, drawing her down sharply onto him, filling her entirely before almost completely removing himself, again and again and again and again…

"Oh fucking Jesus…" Her eyes squeezed shut.

"Touch your clit, come on my cock." His words pushed her closer and she followed his instruction, throwing her head back as she fondled herself almost frantically now, allowing him to continue to guide her. He watched her tits bounce, watched her bite her lip, and she moaned loudly when he found a spot deep in her that she liked.

He was going to finish before her, he knew it, everything about her was too good, and she'd only finished a few minutes ago once.

"Fuck, Kate, wait a sec… I'm gonna-" He tried to still the movement of her hips, but she took both his hands and moved them either side of his head.

"Shut up, just come, come in me." Her breasts pressed against his chest and she kissed him wetly, rolling her hips, grinding her clit just right so she could see stars. They were sweating against each other.

"Christ." He could get used to her talking like that, he could feel himself that he was about to finish, and sat up, wrapping his arms round her waist. He thrust up into her the best he could in that position, and the pressure on her clit made her start to come as well.

"Kate," he grunted as he started to spill inside her, grabbing a handful of her ass, brow furrowed and sweaty.

"Yes, yes, yes," she chanted, "mmm." She started to tremble, clenching and unclenching around him, making him slicker than he already was. He swore and groaned, the orgasm seeming to last longer than usual as she ground her hips in small motions, riding out her own.

"Oh my god," she breathed, holding onto him tightly, it wasn't ending, she pressed her head into his shoulder, panting hot onto his skin as he let out one last 'fuck.' "Oh my god." She let out a little shaky noise from her chest like she was coming down from crying, because wave after wave of pleasure just kept hitting her and she was still clenched around him.

"Christ, baby." Jimmy put his forehead against hers and watched her with her brow furrowed and her mouth hung open, still orgasming around him, drawing out every last drop from him.

Finally, it ended, and her nails dug into his back for a while as they breathed heavily and held onto each other, her pussy still quivering and convulsing around his dick. He swallowed deeply, rubbing the skin of her lower back as they both focussed on breathing normally again. Jimmy rested a hand on the side of her face, not moving his sweaty forehead from hers as she breathed shakily over his mouth. Both knew this was by far the most tender moment they had shared, and didn't care to analyze it quite yet. Once she got motor control back, she limply raised a hand to touch the side of his face, and stroke his sideburn with her fingertips.

"God damn," He said finally, looking at her with a tired smile, "You really do like me."

She chuckled, and a ran a hand through her messy hair, adjusted so he slipped from her, but kept herself sat on his lap. Usually he'd say 'that was good, right?' or 'did you like that?' And it was only then that it occurred to her that he had always been asking her that earnestly, he always needed her to tell him. This time, he didn't ask, he knew.

He reclined on the bed, pulling her with him, and kissed her deeply, the two staying in that position for a while, naked and sweaty, kissing and touching.

Once they eventually parted, they lay on their backs, and Jimmy pulled a sheet up to their waists, arm under his head. She really loved these moments with him, when they just quietly lay down together with his hair all out of whack and her makeup sweated off. There was something very honest about it, and it was something that she couldn't have done with just any guy she slept with, not so comfortably anyway.

"It's only 6pm." He said eventually, voice like gravel.

Kate chuckled and looked out of the window, it was still very much light outside.

"We could go for dinner." She suggested. "Seems a shame to spend all night cooped up in here."

"I dunno, there's still some stuff I'd like to try."

"Well there'll be plenty of time for that later." She rolled onto her stomach. "C'mon, I brought a nice dress. Let's go get steaks."

"Fine, I'll get dressed." He sighed, as she slipped out of bed.

Once they had both got themselves looking presentable, they asked the concierge where the nearest nice restaurant was and decided to walk. The evening was still warm, and Kate always enjoyed the dull orange light of that time of day. It was a nice part of town, lots of pretty shops and interesting old buildings to look at as they walked at a leisurely pace. Her light floral sundress swayed around her legs, and her short heels clicked on the pavement. Jimmy was walking with a hand in his pocket with the other limply at his, and she glanced at it.

' _What am I? 12?'_

Kate gently linked their fingers together, and pursed her lips pretending to look in the window of a clothes store. Smiling a little to himself, Jimmy tugged her a little closer to his side and kept hold of her hand.

Dinner was enjoyable, and they flirted and chatted, both starting with beer before moving onto liquor. Both were sufficiently tipsy after they'd eaten that finding a bar seemed like a good idea. Jimmy had always been a fan of dives, and as it was getting dark they found one that reminded him a lot of his old haunt back in Cicero. It was quiet, and lowly lit, the patrons looked like regulars and an old-style jukebox was turning over albums in the corner. Kate hadn't realised that she really missed that alcohol smell that came with old bars, it reminded her of her friends back home who she hadn't called in too long.

Jimmy went to the bar to get their drinks while Kate sat at a table off to the side, close to the jukebox so she could control the music. He returned with a scotch for himself and a vodka and coke for her, with a little pink straw.

She took a sip, and screwed up her face. "Is this a double?"

"Uh-huh."

"Jesus they do not skimp in Texas." She chuckled, sipping again. "Whew."

"More bang for your buck, I'm not complaining." He sat back in his chair, resting his arm lazily over the back. It was hard for him not just to look at her that night; her hair was a little longer than when he'd met her and she'd pinned it loosely up, a few loose wavy tendrils hanging around her face. He'd never seen her in a dress either, with such a low neckline and her little silver locket hanging just so.

"You're gorgeous." He said out of no where, scotch loosening up the inhibitions he didn't have many of in the first place. She was glad she already had a flush in her cheeks from the alcohol to hide the way he made her blush. God, she hated blushing, she liked to think she was above it.

"So are you." She grinned. "And you think you're very charming."

He leaned across the table a bit. "I think I'm very charming but I'm not?"

"You're very charming but you're not as charming as you think you are." She chewed the little straw in the side of her mouth.

"Worked on you." He said, and drank his scotch.

"Yeah well," she shrugged, "I'm easy."

Jimmy laughed while she stood and took some change out of the little purse hanging on the back of her chair and went to the jukebox. He watched her swaying her hips to what was already playing as she found a song she liked, loosened up by the booze.

'Girl, you'll be a woman, soon...'

"Good god woman," he said when she sat down at the table, "Do you listen to anything other than soundtracks?"

"I guess not." She shrugged, smiling, and taking a too-long drink. "But this is some fine Neil Diamond silky stylins'."

"I like it too."

They drank up quickly, Kate got more giggly, and moved her chair round to the side of the table so they were talking more intimately. His breath smelled like the too many scotches he'd had, and hers like vodka.

The drunker he got, the more he started to talk about his past, and he even started regaling her with stories of his Slippin' Jimmy days and the trouble he'd got himself into. She found it all very funny, and was starting to get a clearer picture as to why he hadn't gone to a better law school.

"So there was the Kennedy half-dollar, the fake Rolex, what else did you do?" She leaned forward, fascinated.

"Nothing much worse than that, y'know? Bar scams. It's real easy to get money out of drunk people."

"Did you make a lot?" She asked, absentmindedly touching his forearm.

"No, no. Enough to buy junk food, and weed, and beer." He chuckled darkly. "We just enjoyed it, and we were good at it. Especially me. Marco just liked the fun of it." Jimmy twisted the ring on his little finger, and Kate glanced down at it.

"Did he…"

"Die? Yeah." Jimmy looked at the ring for a long while, turning a little quiet, before snapping out of it and looking back up at her. "Let's not talk about it right now, alright?" He said, and she nodded. There was no way that she was going to push something that made that sadness spark up in his eyes.

"We should do one." She whispered, shaking his arm a bit.

"What?" He laughed a little, looking at her.

"We should do a scam, right now, let's do it." She looked genuinely giddy.

"I've got plenty of money in my wallet let's just-"

"Oh don't be a pussy, c'mon." She said. "I've heard of one, I think I can do it." She raised her eyebrows.

"What is it?" He asked, quickly shaking off his reservations.

"Okay, you come to the bar with me, we'll wait for a mark to come in, and just watch and learn." She grinned.

"Mark? Aren't you confident."

"Yes, now come on, I think I can do this, and if I can't, well I might be down $30 bucks by the end of the night." She shrugged. "But if I can, I'll get us free drinks and some cash to boot."

They both downed the rest of their drinks, and he nodded.

"I'm ready to be impressed."

Kate put down her empty glass, and they went to the almost empty bar, taking stools a little ways away from each other. The bartender was an older woman who was paying absolutely no attention to them, and was chatting to some of the regular patrons at the other side of the round bar.

It didn't take long for a small group of younger men to come in, loud and laughing as they yelled to one another, they were all clad in a lot of denim, and baseball caps. Immediately congregating around the bar near her, she straightened her back and rested her hands on the scratched wood, also crossing her legs for effect.

Jimmy frowned, if looking hot at a bar was her scam to get drinks then he was sure he had fallen for it a million times. She twirled some hair around her finger for effect, hoping to draw some attention to herself. After a minute, she did, in her peripheral vision she saw a light-haired one nudge his friend and then nod over to her, and she had to fight off a little laugh.

She could see his friends watching and muttering to themselves as he came over, and leaned on the bar beside her.

"Hey, you okay?" He said, smiling in the most charming way he could muster.

"Oh, I didn't see you there." She smiled brightly, putting a hand on her chest, speaking more breathy than usual, Jimmy almost rolled his eyes. "Drinking alone, you know how it is… I was a million miles away."

"Pretty girl like you shouldn't be drinking alone." He had a thick accent, and was standing too close to her.

"Oh, stop!" She giggled, and nudged his arm. "You're gonna make me blush."

"I'm sure ya get it all the time. Can I buy you a drink?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Sure, I'll get a margarita, that's so sweet."

Jimmy frowned to himself while the guy ordered her drink, he'd never seen her have a margarita before. What she knew that he didn't was that she wanted something she could down quickly, and move on to her ulterior motive.

"You don't sound like you're from around here." He said, drinking his beer.

"I'm from Chicago." She half-lied. "You from here?"

Jimmy almost scoffed into his drink, not that it wasn't a little bit amusing to watch her put on her fake flirtatious persona, he did hope it was part of a long game that wouldn't take too long, because watching some young guy looking at his girlfriend's tits and giving the thumbs up to his buddies was getting at him. Even if he would probably do the same in that situation.

"Okay, how about a little game?" She suggested, playfully biting her lower lip.

"What you thinking, sweetheart?"

"I'll warn you that I've never lost, alright? We order four vodka on the rocks, and four shots of tequila, I bet you $30 I can finish the four vodka rocks before you finish your shots. Winner take all, and loser pays for the drinks." She took the notes out of her purse and set them on the bar.

The guy looked back at his friends, "You crazy? What's the catch?"

"No catch, only rules are, I can't touch any of your glasses and you can't touch any of mine. Do you accept the rules?" She held out her hand for him to shake, smiling sweetly still.

"Well hell, I'm not gonna pass up $60 and some free shots, you're on." He shook her hand, and she grinned as he slapped his $30 on the counter.

"Great!" She said enthusiastically and ordered the drinks. He called his friends over so they could watch, and Jimmy leaned forward in his seat slightly so he wasn't going to miss anything. He was trying to work out how she would do it, but the solution wasn't coming.

When the drinks were poured and laid out in front of them, she picked up her first vodka on the rocks, and he picked up his first shot.

"You ready?" She asked, eyebrow raised. He and his friends laughed.

"Sure, I think I can manage."

"Okay, 3, 2, 1!"

The guy downed his first shot, and she took a leisurely sip of her vodka, and while she did so, calmly picked up her margarita glass, and placed it upside down on his last shot. When he downed his second one, he went for the third, and noticed what she'd done.

"Wh-"

"Remember? I can't touch any of your glasses and uh- you can't touch _any_ of mine." She shrugged, with a faux sad face. His friends shouted their various 'oh's!' and broke into hysterics upon realisation. Jimmy couldn't help cracking up too, as she collected the cash, tucked it into her bra, and scooped up the four glasses.

"But that wasn't- you didn't-" The young man stammered and she shrugged and sent him a sympathetic smile, before walking over to Jimmy, and setting the drinks down in front of him, taking a seat.

Her young mark didn't look best pleased as his friends laughed at his misfortune, and Kate and Jimmy raised their glasses and nodded in thanks.

"Is it weird that I'm really fucking turned on right now?" Jimmy muttered to her, taking a sip. She put her hand on his knee.

"Once we've finished these drinks I might be liable to go see how clean the bathrooms here are." She whispered back, and squeezed his leg before replacing it back on the table.

Jimmy had to think of other things for a moment, she really knew exactly what images to put in his head to make him want to tear her dress off right then and there.

Of all the ways she impressed him that night, her ability to hold her liquor was something else. They were both pretty unsteady on their feet when they emerged from the bar, his arm slung over her shoulder and hers around his waist, but they were surprisingly coherent, and she'd shown no signs of needing to throw up yet.

"Y- y'know what? I didn't think you could get any more attractive than when you first walked into my office, but you keep proving me wrong, babe." He was talking way more loudly than he needed to be. "I mean smart, face of an angel, ass from a 90's rap video, and you can pull off a bar scam like Slippin' Jimmy in his heyday."

"Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?" She chuckled, covering her mouth.

"What? No.."

"Such a jackass." She shook her head.

"Hey," he suddenly gripped her waist and tugged her into the mouth of a little alley, "Shouldn't call your boss a jackass."

"Oh you're playing the boss card now are you?" He kissed her neck pretty sloppily, and she glanced at the street, glad to find it empty.

"Uh-huh. You have to respect me." He mumbled, and she almost laughed, but had to admit that when he ran his hands down to her ass and squeezed, it stirred her up.

"The dominant thing really doesn't' work on you." She bit her lower lip as he kissed down her chest, only vaguely aware of where they were. He hitched her left thigh up to his waist, and pressed himself against her. Her dress bunched up, and she could feel his hardness pressed against the zipper of his jeans through her underwear.

"Usually I'd argue but I don't want you to fight me." He said honestly, he was speaking lowly, that gravel there in his chest, but the words drunkenly pouring from him. They weren't even kissing, he just stayed pressed against her and kept his hands firmly on her behind

"Some guys like it." She whispered. Jimmy kissed her gently, and kept their noses touching.

"I don't want to fuck you unless you're soaking wet and desperate for it. So however you like me is the way you'll get me." He practically breathed.

She looked down, shivering a bit; she could feel her cheeks flushing, and she could feel herself get wet. They were both drunk-horny, sloppy and uninhibited, and knowing that they would be embarrassed by some of the things they said in the morning.

"I want you right now." She said quietly.

"Here?" He asked, only slightly in disbelief because he could see how serious she was, and he wanted her just as much.

Kate slipped away from him and grabbed his hand, pulling him further down the alley and into the dark, it was tight, only a few feet wide, and the sober part of her just prayed no one walking by would glance down on _their_ way home from bar.

They kissed wetly, all tongues and teeth, and he picked her up again, wrapping her legs round his waist and pressing her back against the wall. She quickly got to work unbuttoning his jeans, and he panted, looking down at her little fingers and then up at her; partly wondering if he'd passed out on the bar and this was a great dream. Her fingers nimbly pushed down his zipper, and fondled his very hard cock through his underwear, and he groaned and his eyes squeezed shut. She wasted no time in bracing her foot against the opposite wall behind him and pushing down his boxers enough for his cock to spring out.

Jimmy still had the capacity to move her underwear aside, and only press the tip into her first to make sure she was ready, but she was completely was, and he plunged himself in.

"Shit." She looped her arms around his shoulders tightly, and moaned into his ear. Jimmy grunted and swore watching her breasts bounce under the thin material of her dress as he pushed upwards and drew her down onto him. Kate's nails dug into the back of his shirt.

This was so bad, so wrong and so fucking filthy and they knew it. It wasn't the most comfortable way to have sex, but just the image of it in her own mind, of someone looking down the alley and seeing her with one leg hitched around him and the other against the wall, both of them sweating and moaning as his cock drove in and out of her, made her hot.

Jimmy couldn't deny being turned on by the sheer dirtiness of it. The image of those guys from the bar rounding the corner and seeing her there, moaning and clinging to him while he fucked her tight pussy entered his head. A hyper-masculine part of him wanted people to see what he had, this young, gorgeous girl was _his_ and they weren't allowed to touch her.

"Oh fuck, fuck." She bit her lip, he was still hitting the right spots in this position, and he gripped her hard.

"Shit, I'm gon- Ah-" He squeezed her tightly, spurting inside of her with a final thrust. Kate bit her lip when he immediately pulled out and set her down, the back of his legs and his knees absolutely burning. Panting, he rested his head on her shoulder a minute while her chest heaved.

Eventually, she started laughing, and her cheeks burned, he looked up to see her covering her face.

"I can't believe we just did that." She said, shaking her head.

"I can't believe _you_ just did that." He smiled breathlessly, feeling more sober than he had five minutes ago after the release. "You ever reconsider that marriage proposal?"

"Well, you couldn't have picked a more romantic setting." She said, gesturing to the grey walls around her and laughing. "C'mon, ask me tomorrow, let's get back to the hotel." Looping her arm through his, she tugged him down the alley.

"I need a ten minute break after that." He said, allowing her to pull him along.

* * *

 **Please do leave a review if you liked it, they're so encouraging, and I hope this wasn't too much smut for y'all. Thanks for reading! x**


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